Murder Charges Dismissed in 1996 Case

A judge Wednesday dismissed murder charges against three men accused of a 1996 drive-by shooting, the third Orange County “cold case” in as many months to fail in court.

Only three weeks before the start of trial, prosecutors abruptly asked Judge Francisco P. Briseno to drop the charges after acknowledging they could not corroborate incriminating statements one of the suspects made to police.

The men were arrested after a Santa Ana Police Department “cold case” investigator took another look at the unsolved killing of Oscar Higareda, who was shot on Bristol Street. Jimmy Plazola, Servando Silva and Pedro Sarinana spent more than a year in jail awaiting trial.

As the judge dismissed the case, Plazola hugged his attorney, Frank Ospino, and smiled broadly at relatives and friends gathered in the courtroom.

Just days after his arrest, Plazola’s wife had given birth to a son. The boy celebrated his first birthday Wednesday--the day his father was ordered released.

In dropping the charges, prosecutors with the state attorney general’s office said the years between the murder and the arrests complicated their efforts.

“Time has certainly played a factor,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Michael Murphy said. “It was 5 years old. People’s memories are getting old.”

The dismissal follows dozens of arrests in “cold cases” as Orange County detectives use cutting-edge technology and fresh evidence to reopen previously unsolved murders. But in recent months, prosecutors have found it tough to convert arrests into convictions.

In June, an Orange County jury acquitted an alleged gang member accused in a 1989 drive-by shooting. Two weeks ago, prosecutors failed to win a guilty verdict in the county’s oldest “cold case” ever to go to trial.

In that trial, jurors split 8 to 4 in favor of acquitting Larry Paige, who was accused of the 1975 slaying of a Santa Ana man gunned down in front of his 4-year-old stepson.

The latest case stemmed from the fatal shooting of Higareda on the evening of Oct. 19, 1996.

Higareda was at a fast-food restaurant with his brother Jose and four friends. The six were confronted by a group. Higareda and the other five left the restaurant, got into their car and drove north on Bristol Street. But another vehicle followed them and eventually pulled alongside.

Gunfire rang out. Higareda was struck in the head.

For years, police were unable to identify those in the shooter’s car. But investigators said they got a key break last year after arresting Sarinana on an unrelated drug-possession warrant.

Sarinana, according to court documents, told detectives he had been a passenger in the car that had opened fire.

Sarinana named Plazola as the vehicle’s driver and Silva as another passenger.

The district attorney’s office filed murder charges against all three. The case was handed to the attorney general’s office when county prosecutors realized that Silva had once worked for the D.A.’s office.

Sarinana refused to cooperate with state prosecutors.

And--like Plazola and Silva--he insisted he had nothing to do with the murder. Defense attorneys argued in court that Sarinana’s statements were coerced and that he told detectives little more than what they had let him know about the shooting.

A videotape of Sarinana’s interrogation shows him sobbing frequently and wiping away tears with his T-shirt.

At one point, he tells the investigators, “I don’t even remember that incident, and I’m just lying to you so you’ll get off my case. . . . I’m just asking you to give me more information about this case.”

But at a preliminary hearing in February, Judge John Conley concluded that the statements were voluntary. He ruled there was enough evidence to bring all three men to trial.

In an effort to bolster the case, state prosecutors tried to corroborate what Sarinana had told police. But as they probed deeper, they began to “cast doubt on the reliability of Sarinana’s statement to investigators,” according to court documents.

Despite the dismissal, Deputy Atty. Gen. Murphy cautioned that the investigation is far from over. Police are continuing to investigate the case and he said he could not rule out new charges in the future against the same suspects or others.

Sarinana, 24, faces extradition to New Mexico, where he pleaded guilty last year to possession of marijuana but fled before he could be sentenced, said his attorney, Ed Hall.

But Silva, 27, and Plazola, 29, were scheduled to be released from Orange County jail late Wednesday, much to the delight of loved ones waiting to take them home.

“We’re real excited,” said Plazola’s niece, Isabel Olvera. “We all knew that he wasn’t involved in it. It’s sad it took them a year to figure it out.”

Plazola’s relatives said he abandoned the gang lifestyle a year before the Higareda slaying and had moved to Riverside County, where he had settled down with his wife and three children when police arrested him.

“He was trying to get his life together, which he did, and then this happened to him,” Olvera said. “It’s really sad.”