A judge on Thursday declared a mistrial in the murder case against a 23-year-old San Pedro man who allegedly shot and killed an off-duty Monterey Park police officer in the parking lot of a Downey shopping center after the man refused to give up his car, a prosecutor said Thursday, Jan. 29.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Porras made the ruling Thursday morning, citing concerns that jurors, who were not told that 26-year-old Gardiel Solorio was an off-duty police officer – may have figured out that he was during testimony early in trial and during the playing of a Perkins operation recording on Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Geoff Lewin said.
Following a defense motion, all sides agreed that Solorio’s status as a police officer would not be conveyed to the jury because that fact was not an element in the crime, Lewin said Thursday.
But on Monday afternoon, a Long Beach police officer on the stand to testify in relation to the robbery charge Delcid was facing, made mention that he had received information about a Monterey Park police officer before Lewin cut him off, the prosecutor said. After Wednesday’s testimony, the lead detective on the case told prosecutors that he believed he heard the phrase “off-duty” while listening to the Perkins operation recording during questioning by Deputy District Attorney Stephen Lonseth, prompting a request for a mistrial by the defense.
No one else heard the words “off-duty” as the recording was played, Lewin wrote in court papers arguing against a mistrial. On Thursday, he commended Detective Ron Gee for bringing it to prosecutors’ attention.
“To assume that a juror would somehow stitch together two disconnected statements – 12 innocuous words spoken on different days by different individuals – and conclude that the victim was an off-duty Monterey Park Police Officer would require attributing to the jury a level of inferential gymnastics that would impress even the most seasoned mentalist,” prosecutors wrote in their brief.
But Delcid’s attorney, Rick Sternfeld, disagreed and said that the jury could infer based on those instances that Solorio was an off-duty police officer, which could “unduly prejudice the jury.”
Porras said he couldn’t say for certain that “zero of them” had “put this together” and said he was “not going to take that chance.”
Lewin said prosecutors play to retry the case against Delcid, who was scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 4.
Delcid faces one count each of murder, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon related to the fatal Aug. 8, 2022 shooting of Solorio. Delcid faces one count of second-degree robbery for a separate incident in which he allegedly stole a necklace and wallet from a man in Long Beach in April 2022.
During opening statements Monday, Lewin told the jury that much of the evidence against Delcid will come from video and from the mouths of the defendant and his crime partners through Perkins operations.
Solorio had just parked his Dodge Charger on the far east side of the parking lot outside an LA Fitness when Delcid, along with two others in a black Honda Accord, stopped behind his parked car and a man identified as Delcid got out, wearing a gray hoodie and a black mask, walked up to Solorio’s car with a gun and demanded it, Lewin said. Solorio instead put the car in reverse and Delcid allegedly fired five shots at him through the driver’s window, three of which would be deemed rapidly fatal by a medical examiner.
“He was shot five times for refusing to give up that car,” Lewin said Monday, adding that there “was not going to be an issue of who pulled the trigger here,” and that the evidence was “absolutely overwhelming” against Delcid.
A dashcam from the car of a Lyft driver nearby captured the Accord’s license plate and detectives found it was registered to a home in Long Beach, Lewin said. Officers were waiting when it arrived at the home and two of the three suspects – Delcid and Christopher Sanchez – were arrested that night, Lewin said.
Sternfeld during his opening statement asked the jury to take in all the evidence before making a decision and said the video would not tell the whole story. He told the panel a witness told officers he believed the shooting stemmed from a possible road-rage incident and that the witness provided a description that did not fit Delcid.
He also asked the panel to take into consideration that alcohol, marijuana and laughing gas were found in the Accord following Delcid’s arrest.
The third suspect, Gerardo Magallanes, was taken into custody three days later and told an undercover officer in a jail cell that the three were looking for a car to steal to “go ride.” He has since been sentenced to 24 years in state prison after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter. Magallanes also admitted to giving Delcid the gun before the shooting and getting rid of it afterwards.
Sanchez also pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years.
City News Service contributed to this report.