Trial Begins In Alleged Redwood City Rock Throwing Road Rage Murder
REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) - The murder trial of a man who allegedly chased down and killed a 16-year-old Redwood City boy for throwing a rock at a car he was in started Monday morning in San Mateo County Superior Court.
Luis Villa, 20, of Lathrop, has been charged with fatally stabbing Matthew Johnson in a parking lot off of Franklin Street in downtown Redwood City on January 3, 2009.
Johnson and two of his friends allegedly went to a railroad overpass above Jefferson Avenue just after 1 a.m. and started tossing rocks and cans at cars passing below, deputy district attorney Joe Cannon said in an opening statement.
Villa and three of his cousins were in a red Honda Civic that was struck by one of the projectiles, and the four men angrily decided to hunt down the boys they had seen on the overpass, Cannon said.
Johnson and one of his friends ran down Franklin Street and tried to hide in some bushes near a parking lot.
Villa and one of his cousins, Luis Herrera, then 21-years-old, got out of their car and ran after the boys.
Cannon showed the jury still images from a video surveillance camera on a nearby apartment building that filmed the two suspects running down the street, Herrera still wearing his work uniform from McDonald's.
According to the prosecution, they caught up with Johnson, dragged him from his hiding place and started to assault him in the parking lot. Another of Villa's cousins, 18-year-old Jonathan Herrera, joined the attack.
During the three-minute fight, Villa allegedly yelled "Watch out, I'm going to stab him," and pulled out a three-and-a-half inch knife, Cannon said.
Jonathan Herrera tried to stop the stabbing, and in the process was cut on his hand and his leg, Cannon said.
Matthew Johnson was stabbed multiple times in his chest, once in his back and once in the back of the leg. His lung was punctured, and he died at Stanford University Medical Center within hours.
Villa absconded to Mexico, where he was arrested by federal agents and extradited back to San Mateo in July.
According to defense attorney Michael Hroziencik, it wasn't Villa who stabbed Johnson, but Luis Herrera.
In the aftermath of the murder, Herrera—who was on probation at the time—also started to flee to Mexico, but was convinced not to by his girlfriend, Cannon said. He got as far as the border at Tijuana before turning back.
In the course of the investigation, Herrera was arrested and pleaded no contest to felony assault. He served one year in county jail, a sentence Hroziencik called "a slap on the wrist" in exchange for telling police Villa was the killer and helping to track him down.
"They're liars," Hroziencik said of the prosecution's witnesses, which include Herrera and Villa's two other cousins who were present on the night of the murder.
"They lie not only to police but they lie under oath," Hroziencik said.
The defense maintains that all of the prosecution's witnesses lack credibility, which can be proven by the various lies they told to police detectives over the course of the investigation.
According to the prosecution, witnesses in the case initially lied to investigators in order to protect themselves and their family members, but that their testimony—and all other evidence in the case—will indicate that Villa was the murderer.
Testimony began Monday afternoon.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
