Murder Case Is Dismissed After Witness Recants Story

In a dramatic turn of events, murder charges against two men facing trial in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy were dropped Wednesday because the key witness in the case recanted her story, saying she made it up to collect reward money.

Kevin Jerome Carlson, 23, and Joseph Luis Garay, 21, had been charged in the March 1996 slaying of Troy Gorena. The pair were arrested last September, largely on the basis of statements made to police by the female witness.

Carlson was expected to be released from Orange County Jail late Wednesday, while Garay was to remain in custody and return to court Friday on an unrelated charge of receiving stolen property.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park told Orange County Superior Court Judge William W. Bedsworth that after a recent interview with the witness, who is in her 20s, it was clear that there was no longer enough evidence to go to trial.

“When we don’t feel we have enough evidence to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, we have to dismiss the case,” Park said outside the courtroom.

Park was tight-lipped about the case, declining to say whether Carlson and Garay remained suspects or whether there would be an investigation into other possible suspects. She also declined to say whether the young woman faces any legal problems for telling police one thing, then changing her story.

Carlson’s attorney, Robert M. Hartmann, said the prosecutor’s decision “took a lot of courage.”

“I knew what the evidence was going to show in the trial--that they were elsewhere when this murder was committed,” Hartmann said.

Carlson’s parents, Carol and Gary Carlson, reacted emotionally in court when the charges were dropped and later cried in the hallway. They said they believe wholeheartedly in their son’s innocence and are angry over the amount of time he was forced to stay in jail.

“People will always question [this outcome], but at least he’s out,” Carol Carlson said.

Hartmann said his client “is very happy and relieved. He’s not looking at 25 years to life anymore. He’s hopeful that he’ll get his good name back.”

The defense attorney said the witness first contacted Fullerton police in November to retract her statements. Last week she finally offered the detailed retraction that led the prosecution to drop the charges.

“What is of grave concern to the defense is that it took Fullerton police five to six months to figure out she was lying,” Hartmann said. “These boys spent six months in jail because she told a lie for money.”

Fullerton Police Chief Patrick E. McKinley declined to respond to Hartmann’s remarks but said in an interview Wednesday that he believes the right suspects were arrested and charged.

“We wouldn’t have brought the case to the D.A. if we didn’t think we had the right suspects in the case,” he said. “Sometimes the evidence isn’t there. But if sometime in the future we feel we can solidify this case, we would refile it.”

Gorena was a native of Fullerton who had moved to Perris with his family. He was visiting a friend in Fullerton when he was fatally stabbed outside the friend’s home on March 5, 1996. Police said he was attacked by two men who called him over at Baker and Richmond avenues and stabbed him repeatedly. He died in surgery.

The woman who named Carlson and Garay as suspects six months after the crime is a close friend of the person Gorena was visiting and apparently knew intricate details of the crime. The woman saw signs around Fullerton offering a reward. She did not ultimately collect any money and it is not known how much the reward was for, the defense attorney said.

Gorena’s mother, Bobbi, had asked the Fullerton City Council last July to establish a reward for information leading to the arrest of her son’s killers. The council denied the request. The mother had raised about $500 on her own. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the victim’s grandmother, who asked not to be identified, expressed her “shock and disappointment.”