Police Doctored Report, Prosecutor Lied In Wild Attempted Murder Case Near Disneyland

Illustration by Joe Rocco

Honest judges across the nation would be alarmed by the corruption that tarnishes Orange County's criminal-justice system. Unlike fictional TV court dramas, the process isn't being subverted by stereotypically devious defense attorneys. Though District Attorney Tony Rackauckas insists policing moves that tainted dozens of cases were accidental errors, evidence continues to mount that cheating against defendants isn't rare.

The latest disaster is People v. Daniel Ray Jones, a wild, late-night June 2013 shootout 2 miles from Disneyland. The ongoing case demonstrates the results of scant or nonexistent, meaningful law-enforcement oversight: prosecutorial willingness to trample ethical boundaries; unholy alliances with Mexican Mafia thugs; and judicial indifference to government lies, record tampering and buried exculpatory evidence. It also showcases Rackauckas' refusal to enforce what citizens expect: a zero-tolerance misconduct policy for his deputies.

The Jones case stems from a power struggle between La Eme associates over collecting taxes for cocaine, heroin and marijuana sales. According to court records, one side included Rafael Bernal, a man the FBI says is a lieutenant to legendary crime boss Peter Ojeda, and his crew: Michael Anthony Gallardo and Jones and his brother Donald Lee Jones. Those same records identify their counterparts in the spat as Juan Gonzalez and his cousins Daniel and Jose Luis Quiroz.

Police reports detail allegations that Bernal asked Gallardo to kill Gonzalez; hoping to win a coup, Gonzalez wanted Gallardo to slay Bernal. To add pressure, Gonzalez told Gallardo he could be taken off a Mexican Mafia hit list if Gallardo complied and paid a $10,000 extortion fee, according to statements police collected. When tempers temporarily subsided, negotiations called for a summit at Gallardo's Anaheim residence.

Fear and mistrust wrecked the meeting before it began. Shortly after arriving, Gonzalez panicked; ran back to a parked Cadillac Escalade holding his cousins, who'd stayed in the vehicle; and began shooting at the house occupants, who returned fire, according to court records. Though forensic evidence concluded more than 40 bullets flew in the working-class neighborhood, nobody was wounded.

You might expect prosecutors to file attempted-murder counts against the Escalade's occupants, who, according to the most believable witness accounts, arrived with extortion intentions and started the firefight. But that's not what happened. The DA's office charged Bernal--who hadn't been present--as well as house occupants Gallardo and the Jones brothers, plus Daniel Quiroz. Oddly not charged was Daniel's brother Jose, who'd confessed to firing his weapon and had been overheard talking about performing a hit before the shooting, or Gonzalez, their jefe.

How to explain the strange charging decisions? The answer is problematic for law-enforcement officials, who want the public to believe they always arrive at crime scenes as neutral players. In this shootout, they'd been an invisible third party with informants on both sides: Gallardo in the house and Jose Quiroz in the Escalade, according to court records. Cops had enjoyed oversight of the gangsters while they sold drugs, committed extortion and threatened murder--and they wanted this ugly fact to remain a secret.

That plan may have succeeded if not for Adam Vining, the deputy public defender representing Daniel Jones. From the outset, Vining became suspicious because the few records prosecutor Erik S. Petersen surrendered supplied evidence his client was not guilty. Namely, cops had placed Jones in an Anaheim Police Department (APD) cell in a ruse to convince him cellmates were higher-ranking Mexican Mafia mobsters arrested in separate incidents. In fact, they were government-paid snitches Jose Paredes and Raymond Cuevas, both serial killers. (See "Meet OC & LA Law Enforcement's Favorite Rats," Sept. 10, 2014.)