Another Killer Gets Shortened Sentence Because of Misconduct Exposed in Salon Shooting Case

A gang member whose murder conviction was overturned in response to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct lodged by the worst mass killer in Orange County history accepted a plea deal today and could be freed from prison in about four years.

Leonel Vega, 34, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and admitted a sentencing enhancement of using a firearm in the March 2004 killing of rival 17-year-old gang member Giovani Onofre, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Vega was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Vega was originally convicted in December 2010 for the killing and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But after questions about investigators’ tactics arose during the case against admitted mass-killer Scott Dekraai, prosecutors agreed to have Vega’s conviction overturned, leading to today’s plea deal.

According to prosecutors, a detective who no longer works for Santa Ana police got a jailhouse informant to press Vega for information on his case, which was a violation of his Sixth Amendment rights because the defendant was already represented by a lawyer. The District Attorney’s Office claims the use of the informant was not disclosed to prosecutors.

The jailhouse informant in the case was Oscar Moriel, who testified in hearings over allegations that Dekraai’s rights were violated by another informant. In those hearings last year, sheriff’s Deputy Seth Tunstall testified that former federal prosecutor and now Orange County Superior Court Judge Terri Flynn-Peister ordered him to only turn over four of 196 pages of notes from Moriel to Vega’s defense attorney.

Flynn-Peister, however, denied the allegation in her testimony last June.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals is hearing new evidence on related issues, as Dekraai’s attorneys try to renew their attempts to have the Orange County District Attorney’s Office removed as prosecutors in the case. Dekraai’s attorneys also want the death penalty removed as an option for Dekraai, who has pleaded guilty in the Salon Meritage murders.

Vega’s attorney, Todd Melnik, said Orange County Superior Court Judge Daniel McNerney called the case a “black eye” for federal and state prosecutors and the sheriff’s department. His comment came after relatives of the victim asked him why there was a plea deal in a case that had already resulted in a conviction.

Melnik said Deputy District Attorney Rahul Gupta told the judge that a “material witness in the case was no longer available” to testify.

“I assume the witness is one of the two informants taken off the case,” Melnik said.

Although Melnik’s defense was strengthened by the evidence that came out of the Dekraai hearings, the attorney said “both sides had a lot to lose” by going to trial.

“There was still forensic evidence, and there were eyewitnesses and testimony from another gang member not in custody whose statements could have been used,” Melnik said.

Vega is featured prominently in the 505-page motion Dekraai’s attorney, Scott Sanders of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, filed a year ago.

Vega gunned down Onofre in Memorial Park in Santa Ana, and five days later when police spotted the vehicle seen at the shooting, the defendant refused to stop and led police on a chase, according to prosecutors. Vega was not charged, however, until 2007 when prosecutors received an eyewitness identification.

The evidence in the Dekraai case has affected two other cases.

Isaac John Palacios pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was released from custody after receiving credit for serving 2,572 days in jail. Palacios was also facing life in prison without the possibility of parole if he had been convicted at trial of a gang-related murder near Mater Dei High School in September 2006.

Attempted murder and solicitation of murder charges were dropped against Joseph Martin Govey in September because of similar issues raised about informants in his case.

• City News Service