Trial underway in 2021 freeway shooting that killed 6-year-old Costa Mesa child
The criminal trial for Marcus Anthony Eriz, accused in the 2021 death of a Costa Mesa kindergartner, began with opening statements on Thursday in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.
Eriz, 26, faces felony charges for second-degree murder and for discharging a firearm at an inhabited motor vehicle, as well as a sentencing enhancement for causing death through the use of a firearm.
Authorities arrested Eriz and his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, a Costa Mesa couple, on June 6, 2021, more than two weeks into an investigation of the fatal shooting of 6-year-old Aiden Leos. Aiden had been riding in the back of a vehicle driven by his mother, Joanna Cloonan, on his way to school.
The incident happened in the northbound lanes of the 55 Freeway at about 8 o’clock on the morning of May 21, 2021. A traffic altercation led to Cloonan displaying an offensive hand gesture toward the couple after being cut off, prosecutors said.
Eriz then reached for his weapon, pointing it at Cloonan’s vehicle and firing it from the passenger seat of a car driven by Lee. The bullet penetrated the trunk and fatally struck Aiden, piercing his liver, lungs and heart before exiting via his abdomen, the prosecution said.
Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel Feldman presented the 9-millimeter gun used in the incident to the jury. He argued that Eriz acted with “callous and cold disregard for human life” when he decided to pull the trigger.
Questioned by investigators as to why he fired the weapon, prosecutors said Eriz replied, “I just grabbed my gun for some reason.”
The prosecution also played a 9-1-1 call placed at the scene, on which a frantic Cloonan could be heard pleading for help while telling the dispatcher, “My son is bleeding to death.”
Among the witnesses presented on Thursday morning, testimony was heard from Sgt. Joe Garcia, an off-duty Seal Beach police officer who attempted to render aid to Aiden for several minutes before emergency personnel arrived.
A construction worker who was trailing the traffic altercation was also brought in as a witness.
Eriz, wearing glasses and a brown jacket with his hair tied back, sat next to his defense attorney, Randall Bethune of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, facing straight ahead toward Judge Richard King.
Bethune told the jury Eriz did not act with “malice,” nor with “intent” in firing his weapon at Cloonan’s vehicle, referring to the incident as a “rash decision by a young man” that did not consider the consequences or the results.
Media coverage of the investigation and a substantial reward for information leading to an arrest related to Aiden’s death increased pressure on authorities to get answers, said Bethune. He added the public had picked a side, that “the government owns the emotions” in the case.
Bethune said Eriz continued to go to work in the days after the incident, and when a co-worker brought it to his attention that the couple’s car looked like the one authorities were looking for, he had a panic attack.
“When you kill somebody, it doesn’t come with a manual,” Bethune reasoned as to why Eriz did not turn himself in then, contending that Eriz froze after realizing what had happened.
“He’s not a monster,” Bethune added. “... He didn’t mean to kill anybody.”
Lee is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 9. She is charged with one felony count of being an accessory after the fact. She also faces a misdemeanor charge for carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
