Ex-O.C. Man Bragged of Slaying, Prosecutor Says

The murder trial of Kent Anguiano began Monday with the prosecutor telling jurors that the former Orange County resident shot a man at a Costa Mesa bus stop eight years ago to impress his friends and later boasted about the killing.

But Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Debbie Lloyd acknowledged that her evidence consisted of testimony from witnesses to whom Anguiano, 38, allegedly confessed--a group that defense attorney Sherry Garrels characterized as a lineup for a “bad ‘Jerry Springer Show.’ ”

Anguiano is accused of firing a .22-caliber bullet point-blank into the head of Luis Lopez, 25, a janitor, at a bus stop near Johanna’s Bar at 19th Street and Placentia Avenue some time after midnight Jan. 16, 1990. His body was found about 1:30 a.m.

Lloyd said Anguiano picked on Lopez, whom he had seen playing pool at Johanna’s Bar earlier that night, because he “doesn’t like Mexicans for some reason even though he is a Hispanic himself.”

Anguiano’s mother, who was in court Monday, said her son has a mainly European heritage, though he also is part Mexican and Aztec Indian.

Anguiano left California in 1992, eventually settling in South Dakota. He was extradited early this year.

The prosecutor has no physical evidence or witnesses to the crime, Garrels told jurors, and is basing her case on “less than ideal” witnesses who will testify they heard Anguiano talk about the slaying. Most, the defense attorney said, were high on drugs or alcohol at the time they knew Anguiano.

Garrels said Costa Mesa police accused her client simply to try to close the investigation into an old crime.

“This may seem unusual to you, but what I want you to pay attention to in the next few days is to what you don’t hear,” Garrels told jurors. There is “no motive, no weapon, in other words, actually no evidence, not even circumstantial.”

One of the witnesses for the prosecution, Brandy Landy, testified Monday that she had had a “one-night stand” with Anguiano months after the murder. She said Anguiano became obsessed with her and told her about the killing to intimidate her.

But during cross-examination, Landy became confused about the sequence of events. She admitted she was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction at the time she met Anguiano.

Lloyd is expected to complete her case against Anguiano today, and Garrels is expected to take a day or two to present defense witnesses.