Man Freed After 4 Years; Judge Says He Didn’t Kill

After four years behind bars, an Oxnard man serving a life sentence for murder was released Friday after the Santa Barbara County judge who sentenced him concluded that he was wrongly convicted of gunning down two men during a 1997 gang shooting.

Overwhelmed and crying, Efren Cruz, 27, walked through the doors of the Santa Barbara jail and into the arms of his weeping mother.

Cruz spoke only briefly, thanking his defense lawyers, the judge and Ventura County law enforcement officials whose investigation last year uncovered new evidence that led to his release.

The emotional scene came six hours after Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa ordered authorities to release Cruz immediately.

The judge found that evidence uncovered by an Oxnard police detective proves that another suspect was the gunman in the Jan. 26, 1997, shootings at a parking garage near State Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

Ochoa, who presided over Cruz’s original trial, set aside the murder and attempted murder convictions and instructed Cruz to return to court Oct. 22. Prosecutors are expected to announce at that time whether they will retry him.

“I’m just happy justice has been done,” said Cruz’s mother, Adela Reyes, her eyes welling with tears. “I’m just going to keep him in my arms for a long time.”

Santa Barbara County Deputy Dist. Atty. Hilary Dozer, who prosecuted the case four years ago, still contends that Cruz was the gunman. Dozer said his office will study the ruling and decide how to proceed.

Defense lawyers Phil Dunn and Kevin DeNoce said prosecutors may be precluded from retrying Cruz as the gunman, but could attempt to try him for murder under an aiding and abetting theory.

They hope prosecutors will decide to drop the charges against Cruz and focus their attention on the man Ochoa and Ventura County law enforcement officials believe is the actual gunman: 28-year-old Gerardo Reyes.

An Oxnard gang member and Cruz’s cousin, Reyes was arrested and charged with murder after the shootings. But he was cleared as prosecutors focused their case on Cruz.

Michael Torres, 23, was killed and Jesus Miranda, then 21, was shot in the neck.