Around the Santa Clara County Superior Court Hall of Justice, referring to the Garcia, Chaidez, Estrada case draws a blank stare. Ask about the 'Los Gatos Murder' and they know just who you're talking about. Friday morning, the four defendants named by Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Chief Scott Seaman were formally arraigned on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Paul Garcia's lawyer reluctantly agreed to the arraignment, reserving the right to file a demurrer, a legal pleading that challenges the sufficiency of the complaint.
The court appearance represents unusually swift justice, given that popular Los Gatan Mark Achilli was shot in his townhouse driveway less than a month ago. The murder, on Mar. 14, shocked and saddened peaceful Los Gatos and Achilli's assasin at first appeared to have slipped away. Police distributed a sketch of the killer Mar. 21, seeking clues. On Mar. 31, Chief Seaman announced that a task force of Los Gatos/Monte Sereno detectives and individuals from many other law enforcement agencies had been working non-stop and had apprehended four men--two in San Jose, two in the Los Angeles area. A week later, on Apr. 7, a fifth Los Angeles area man was arrested.
The prosecution's theory of what happened has not been made public. It would seem that Esequiel "Paul" Garcia, now 30, the man who bought Los Gatos businesses Mountain Charley's and the 180 restaurant and lounge from Mark Achilli and Sue Farwell last July, is thought to have wanted Achilli dead. Unsupported rumors suggest that Garcia was dating the same woman as Achilli after the business deal. That woman, a Los Gatos High School graduate, is about Garcia's age and about 23 years younger than Achilli. The same rumors suggest that the woman left Garcia to return to Achilli shortly before the murder. Achilli was shot next to her SUV in his driveway.
In this scenario, Garcia possibly involved Daniel Chaidez, 23, who worked security at Mountain Charley's. Chaidez then supposedly contacted a cousin, Miguel Chaidez, 22, of Duarte, east of Los Angeles. Miguel's cousin, Lucio Estrada, 24, of Burbank, then drove up to Los Gatos, hung around the quiet Chestnut and Overlook Rd. neighborhood throughout the morning dressed all in black. Speculation is that he parked a small black SUV on Hernandez Ave.
Mark Achilli left his townhouse about 11:40 a.m. on Mar. 14 and walked across the driveway to the carport. There, he was shot as many as eight times. Unsupported rumors say it was a small-caliber gun. Such guns are increasingly popular--what they lack in stopping power, they make up in concealability. This would explain the number of shots--to make sure that Achilli was not just wounded.
The killer--allegedly Lucio Estrada--then ran north, out of Achilli's townhouse complex and one block up Chestnut to his SUV. He tossed his black baseball cap into a yard on Chestnut. Witnesses saw the killer with and without the cap, so police artist Gil Zamora produced two sketches. As police and other first responders were converging on the Rancho de Los Gatos complex on that warm spring Friday morning, Estrada may have been driving down Hernandez, through the Almond Grove, and onto the freeway for the trip back to Burbank.
We don't know what Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rosen is planning to allege in court, or how the defendant's attorneys will respond. There has been no word on how the fifth suspect, Robert Jacome, 27, is related to the others. He is due to arrive in the county early next week, but he has already been arraigned. In the meantime, all we have is speculation, and a case that most of Los Gatos is following closely.
"What's the excitement today?" an attorney asked a baliff. The 82 public seats in Dept. 23, a windowless basement courtroom presided over by Judge Jerome S. Nadler, were filled. A dozen more filled the vestibule, holding the doors open to see the arraignment. Before the courtroom opened, spectators jammed the basement hallway outside. Sue Farwell chatted with Michelle Achilli and others. The victim's daughter, Alexandra Achilli, who became upset after a hearing last week, was not in court. "I've never seen it this crowded," said a passing lawyer.
There were other matters on the court's 9:30 a.m. calendar, but half the people in the courtroom cleared out after the four defendants in the "Los Gatos Murder" case were led away.
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