Mexico Murder Suspect Must Prove Innocence

A Buena Park man charged in the sniping death of a Southern California woman in Mexico has one year to prove his innocence or face up to 50 years in prison, a Mexican judge ruled Tuesday.

A review of the case showed that Dennis Albert Macchione fired the rifle shot that killed Debra Lynn Campos of Brawley July 2, said Judge Hector Manuel Gil Rivera in Tijuana. Campos was shot while riding in a pickup with two companions on the toll road south of Rosarito.

Macchione, 33, is being held at La Mesa Penitentiary in Tijuana without bail, the judge said. In a telephone interview, Gil said gunpowder residue found on Macchione’s hands and his confession to Rosarito police have convinced him that the man should be held in jail.

Last week, Macchione implicated a friend who accompanied him to Baja California for the Fourth of July weekend. He denied shooting anybody. Attempts by The Times to reach the man whom Macchione named as the shooter were unsuccessful Tuesday, and Gil said Mexican police found no evidence that the man was ever in Mexico.

Macchione, who court records indicate has a history of mental problems, told police last week that he did not like capitalism and affluent Americans, said Rosarito Police Cmdr. Javier Marquez. Police said Macchione gave this as his reason for allegedly firing a 7.62-millimeter rifle at late-model cars that he believed were driven by U.S. citizens on the Mexican toll road.

According to Gil, Macchione told investigators that he and the friend left July 1 at 7 a.m. for a trip to Baja in the friend’s Mitsubishi Eclipse. The two men packed Macchione’s rifle, a sniper scope that was not attached to the rifle, military clothing and dark ski masks.

The men carried only 10 rounds of ammunition for the rifle, said Gil.

“Macchione said it was his friend’s idea to fire at cars. He said they were doing it for fun, because they were socialists and didn’t like capitalists, and they were only shooting at the cars’ tires. He also said that his religious beliefs . . . convinced him that people who have a lot of money are bad,” Gil said.