Chavez denies pulling trigger

FORT SMITH — Sebastian County Circuit Court jurors Tuesday watched the video interview of a Slanga 96 gang member who admitted being present for the slaying of a rival gang member but denied pulling the trigger.

But another Slanga 96 member, 17-year-old Jorge Chirinos, testified before the jury of seven women and five men that Alberto Chavez was one of two men who sprayed a trailer with bullets from assault-style

rifles Jan. 14, killing 18-year-old Justin Lopez inside.

Also, state Crime Laboratory firearms and tool mark examiner Jennifer Floyd testified a fragment of the bullet removed from Lopez’s skull during an autopsy came from the AR-15-style rifle Chirinos said Chavez was firing into the trailer.

Chavez said in the video co-defendant Ryan Oxford, 20, was one of the shooters along with Bryan Porras, 20.

Porras was convicted in circuit court Nov. 15 of first-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act. He was sentenced to 63 years in prison for the murder, received lesser sentences for the terroristic act convictions and was sentenced to another 34 years for violating suspended sentences on convictions last year of five felonies.

The prosecution rested its case Tuesday against Chavez, 19, after presenting two days of testimony. Like Porras, Chavez is charged with first-degree murder and seven counts of committing a terroristic act. The defense rested Tuesday without presenting any evidence to the jury.

Circuit Judge Michael Fitzhugh told jurors court will reconvene at 9 a.m. today when he will instruct them on the law in the case, and they will hear closing arguments by attorneys before beginning deliberations.

Jurors watched the video of the two-hour interview Jan. 15 after detectives working on the case rounded up members of the Slanga 96 gang.

As detective Bill Hardin interviewed Oxford in one interview room, detective Anthony Parkinson questioned Chavez in another, Parkinson testified. He said investigators exchanged information by text messages as their respective interviews progressed, giving each updates to helped in their interviews.

Parkinson pushed Chavez from the start. He told Chavez he knew he was involved in the shooting. He pressed him to tell what he knew and rejected Chavez’s assertions he knew nothing. He played Chavez against Oxford, Chirinos and Porras, who also were being questioned, warning him he should get his story on the record before the others told theirs.

“Don’t let them spin this story in their own favor,” Parkinson told Chavez.

Chavez was visibly nervous as he sat in the small, stark interview room. At times, he rubbed or slapped his hands against the thighs of his jeans as Parkinson urged him to talk. He bent over double in his chair sometimes, rubbing his head, or buried his face in his hands.

He tried several times to make a deal with Parkinson, asking him if he could go home if he told the truth.

“What’s going to happen to me?” he asked Parkinson at one point.

Parkinson told him only he would show the video to Prosecutor Daniel Shue and let Shue decide what would happen. He told jurors Tuesday he knew Chavez wasn’t going home.

According to testimony in the trial, the four were looking for Lopez, a member of the rival Clout Boys gang, possibly because they believed Lopez made disrespectful remarks against the Slanga 96 gang. With Porras driving, they pulled into an alley behind the backyard where the trailer sat and where Lopez and his friend Trey Miller were hanging out.

In his statement, Chavez said the three others with him had guns, but he was unarmed.

Oxford and Chirinos also are charged with first-degree murder in Lopez’s death and with seven counts of committing a terroristic act.

Oxford is scheduled to go on trial Dec. 18. Chirinos is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 8. He testified Tuesday he hopes to receive leniency in exchange for his testimony against the other gang members.