Judge orders murder trial for Fresno man accused of skating up to SUV, shooting victim
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An accused killer on Rollerblades and an accomplice in a BMW will face a jury trial on charges they murdered a 70-year-old man in a northwest Fresno parking lot.
Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Conklin on Wednesday said that despite the circumstantial evidence against defendants, Guillermo Perez, 41, the alleged shooter, and 48-year-old Alejandra Munoz, the getaway driver, the evidence that was presented was “striking.”
Perez is accused of shooting Richard Martin several times in the upper body and face as he was sitting in his black SUV in the FreshCo Food Center parking lot at Shields and Brawley avenues around 11:20 p.m. May 17, 2022.
The suspected shooter was caught on several video surveillance cameras skating through the parking lot prior to the shooting. The video showed the shooter making several passes near Martin’s car before rolling up to the driver’s side window and firing off several rounds from a .45 caliber hand gun.
Detective Ryan Rockwell testified Wednesday that surveillance video also picked up a gray BMW sedan driving in the area just before the shooter shows up in the parking lot. After Martin is killed, the suspected shooter quickly leaves the parking lot and jumps into the parked BMW a short distance away.
Relying on surveillance video, Rockwell was able to trace the car’s path to space 137 of the Midstate Mobile Manor in the 3400 block of Shields Avenue. The mobile home space is where Munoz was living with her boyfriend and the BMW belonged to Munoz, Rockwell testified.
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DA’s office makes its case
Perez was tied to the shooting through his friendship with Munoz, a previous assault case and ballistics tests.
Perez’s ex-girlfriend testified Tuesday that Perez was involved in an assault with a deadly weapon case during the summer of 2020. The ex-girlfriend testified Perez got into a fight with a high school friend of hers near Olive and Fruit avenues. Punches were thrown, and Perez pulled out a gun and shot the man in the leg.
The ex-girlfriend also told prosecutor Elana Smith that Perez was fond of Rollerblading and would even use them as transportation to get to and from work.
Additionally, Rockwell said, ballistics tests found that the shell casings collected in the 2020 shooting came from the same gun used in the killing of Martin.
Smith also connected Perez to Munoz since the two sometimes worked together doing maintenance jobs for the owners of several ampm stores and gas stations in Fresno.
Smith and Rockwell also suggested that money may have also been a factor in the killing. Martin, who sometimes worked as a security guard, recently settled a wage and hour case against the owners of an ampm in Fresno for $850,000.
Martin sued the owners in civil court alleging they were paying him under the table and had not been paying him what he was owed.
The tentative settlement was reached four days prior to Martin’s death.
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Defendents’ attorneys present defense
Defense attorneys Mark Coleman, who represents Munoz, said the idea that his client and Perez were somehow involved in Martin’s death because of his recent windfall is completely unfounded.
“That was your theory, but it never panned out,” Coleman said to Rockwell.
The detective replied, “That is still my theory.”
Megan Taylor, who represents Perez, argued that much of the district attorney’s case is based on circumstantial evidence.
Taylor said no one has positively identified her client as being the shooter. And none of the video examined by detectives shows a clear look at the shooter’s face.
The next hearing for Munoz and Perez is set for June 28 in Dept. 30.
