Trial begins for 2021 road rage shooting that killed 6-year-old Aiden Leos

The trial is now underway in Santa Ana for the man accused of killing 6-year-old Aiden Leos in a deadly road rage shooting in Orange County.

Marcus Anthony Eriz, 26, faces one felony count each of second-degree murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle, and enhancements for both of using a firearm causing great bodily injury and death.

Prosecution and defense attorneys took their turns framing the case in court, with defense saying the shooting death was a mistake and a rash decision by a young man.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Daniel Feldman said during opening statements that when investigators questioned Eriz he admitted to grabbing his gun and shooting after he was "flipped-off" by the driver.

"He confessed to it, and when they (investigators) asked him about it, he said 'yeah they were merging away from the vehicle, and that's when I just grabbed my gun for some reason and shot at them'" prosecution said.

The shooting happened May 21, 2021 around 8 a.m. as Aiden Leos was in the backseat of his mother's car while she drove on the 55 Freeway near Chapman Avenue in Orange. Joanna Cloonan was driving Aiden to his kindergarten class at Calvary Chapel Academy in Yorba Linda.

Wynne Lee, Eriz's girlfriend, was driving the couple in the carpool lane of the freeway. Prosecutors say Lee switched lanes before speeding back into the carpool lane, cutting off Cloonan and then giving the peace sign.

A few miles later, Cloonan exited the carpool lane, passed Lee's car and raised her middle finger. This is when Eriz admitted to firing his gun at the back of her car.

"No thought of consequences, no thought of results and no malice and no intent... Just a momentary lapse of reason by a 24-year-old guy," Randall Bethune, defense attorney said.

Prosecution said the evidence in the case is overwhelming. "As far as the question of who shot Aiden, just listen to Mr. Eriz, he'll tell you. For no reason other than a woman he didn't know extended her middle finger at him on the freeway."

"The responsibility, the fact that he might regret it, and you'll hear this in his interview, does not change what happened. And it's certainly not going to bring Aiden back," Feldman said. 

Eriz has pleaded not guilty to murder and discharging a firearm at a vehicle.