Pretrial Motions Underway For Coachella Valley Man Who Shot, Killed Childhood Friend

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA — Pretrial motions got underway Monday ahead of jury selection for the trial of a 22-year-old man accused of gunning down his lifelong friend in Sky Valley.

Alexis Yahir Duran of Cathedral City is charged with second-degree murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations for the 2023 death of 17-year-old Adam Pineda of Desert Hot Springs.

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Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jerry Yang on Monday received motions from the prosecution and defense regarding witnesses, evidence, scheduling and other matters. Yang was also expected to summon multiple panels of prospective jurors to the Riverside Hall of Justice, where "hardship" requests would be considered ahead of selection.

Duran is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center.

According to testimony from his December 2023 preliminary hearing, on the morning of Feb. 4 of that year, Duran, his younger brother, whose identity wasn't disclosed, and Pineda attended a party together, and afterward decided to drive out to a deserted location near Wide Canyon Road in Sky Valley, ostensibly to shoot a handgun that the defendant admitted carrying around.

Duran and his brother later told sheriff's investigators that they were goofing around with the firearm in Pineda's Jeep Cherokee, and while the defendant was in possession of it, he allegedly fired the pistol in the victim's direction, believing that no bullet was in the chamber, according to testimony.

The young man panicked. Detective Daniel Cline testified Duran drove the victim's Jeep to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where medical personnel attempted without success to resuscitate Pineda.

Duran initially informed patrol deputies and paramedics that the teenager had accidentally shot himself, according to Cline. However, he soon changed his story under questioning that day at the sheriff's Palm Desert station, acknowledging that he was the one who fired the weapon, unintentionally inflicting the mortal wound, the detective recalled.

Duran insisted the shooting was accidental, and that he would never have willfully harmed Pineda, whom he'd known since the age of 10, according to testimony.

After the defendant allegedly admitted the shooting, he wrote a letter to the victim's mother, in which he apologized, saying he "didn't mean to and would never do that to (Pineda) on purpose," Cline testified.

The defense ultimately argued for the court to reduce the charge from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter, but the judge at the hearing ruled the prosecution's argument for murder was valid because Duran had become familiar with the firearm in the weeks prior to the shooting and knew full well what could happen if it went off.

Duran has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.