{"id":63980,"date":"2015-06-09T23:51:19","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T06:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=63980"},"modified":"2015-06-10T00:27:01","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T07:27:01","slug":"trial-opens-for-brothers-charged-in-shooting-death-of-7-year-old-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2015\/06\/09\/trial-opens-for-brothers-charged-in-shooting-death-of-7-year-old-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial opens for brothers charged in shooting death of 7-year-old girl"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Desirae<\/a>
Desirae Macias<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 Opening statements were delivered Tuesday in the trial of two brothers charged in a 2013 car-to-car shooting in Palmdale that killed a 7-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

Jesus Alberto Peralta<\/strong>, 24, and Carlos Peralta<\/strong>, 21, are each charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle and premeditated murder in connection with the death of Desirae Macias<\/strong>, who was shot in the head while riding in her family\u2019s vehicle. The Peralta brothers are additionally charged with three counts of attempted murder relating to the girl\u2019s family members. The criminal case includes gun and gang allegations.<\/p>\n

According to Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Chung, the confrontation that triggered the car-to-car shooting began around 12:40 a.m. Sept. 4, 2013, at a gas station near Fort Tejon Road and Pearblossom Highway – an area commonly referred to as \u201cFour Points.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his opening statement Tuesday, the prosecutor played for the jury a surveillance video clip from the Mobil gas station. In narrating the silent video, Chung said Jesus Peralta pulled up to the gas station in a Ford F-150, with his brother, Carlos, in the passenger seat and a friend, Eduardo Diaz, in the rear seat. Soon after, a car pulled up driven by Lorena Ibarra, with her boyfriend, Brandon Castellano, in the passenger seat, and her two young daughters, including Desirae, in the rear seat, Chung said.<\/p>\n

The evidence would show that Jesus and Carlos Peralta confronted Castellano with a gang challenge at the gas station, and then Carlos Peralta lifted his shirt to reveal a semi-automatic handgun, according to Chung. Castellano backed away from the confrontation, while Lorena Ibarra \u201ckept yelling out, \u2018I got kids in the car,\u2019\u201d Chung told the jury.<\/p>\n

The video evidence shows the Peralta brothers walking over to the family\u2019s car, and Castellano spraying both men with pepper spray before the family\u2019s vehicle pulls away, Chung said. With Jesus Peralta behind the wheel, the brothers chased the family\u2019s vehicle through residential streets in Palmdale while firing several rounds at the vehicle, Chung said.<\/p>\n

During his opening statement, the prosecutor also played for the jury a portion of the recorded 9-1-1 call he said was made as the family was trying to get away.<\/p>\n

The audio clip began with a frantic voice telling the operator, \u201cThey\u2019re some Hispanic guys shooting at us\u2026\u201d And then later, \u201cThey shot her! They shot her!\u201d \u2013 with voices screaming and wailing in the background.<\/p>\n

The family didn\u2019t realize Desirae had been hit until they made it home, according to Chung.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bullet had entered in the back of her head,\u201d Chung said.<\/p>\n

The evidence would show that the defendants got in a vehicle, pursued the victims for about 2.2 miles and fired several rounds at a car containing a family, Chung said. He urged the jury to find Jesus and Carlos Peralta guilty of the premeditated murder of Desirae and the attempted murder of everyone else in the car.<\/p>\n

But defense attorney Robert Nadler said the surveillance video, when played in its entirety, would show a lot more than what the prosecution was attempting to portray. During his opening statement Tuesday, the defense attorney for Jesus Peralta painted Brandon Castellano as the instigator of the confrontation that sparked the shooting.<\/p>\n

The video evidence would show Castellano getting out of the family\u2019s car with \u201ca swagger\u201d and then approaching the Peralta brothers in a confrontational manner, Nadler told the jury. The video shows Castellano, at one point, putting his hand behind his back \u201calmost as if he\u2019s got something,\u201d Nadler said.<\/p>\n

According to Nadler, the video, when viewed in its entirety, shows Jesus Peralta walking away from Castellano and motioning for Castellano to leave.<\/p>\n

But \u201cBrandon Castellano keeps talking,\u201d Nadler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence will show that he [Castellano] called them over so that he could pepper spray them,\u201d Nadler told the jury. The defense attorney said Jesus Peralta was \u201cextremely angered\u201d after being \u201cblasted\u201d with pepper spray, but he had no reason to believe there were kids in the opposing vehicle.<\/p>\n

Jesus \u201cis a good kid, and he had no intention that night of harming any child,\u201d Nadler told the jury during his opening statement.<\/p>\n

Carlos Peralta\u2019s defense attorney, Hung Du, said the case was about \u201croad rage that went horribly, horribly wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Du said the evidence would show that the shooting happened only a few minutes after the gas station confrontation, when the brothers were still angered and in a rage over being pepper-sprayed. Common sense was taken over by the heat of passion, Du told the jury in his opening statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not first-degree murder,\u201d Du said.<\/p>\n

Lorena Ibarra was the first witness called to the stand following opening statements Tuesday afternoon. Her testimony is expected to continue Wednesday in Department A16 at Antelope Valley courthouse.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Brothers plead not guilty in shooting death of 7-year-old girl<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Arraignment postponed for brothers charged with murdering 7-year-old<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Girl killed in car-to-car shooting in Palmdale<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Opening statements were delivered Tuesday in the trial of two brothers charged in a 2013 car-to-car shooting in Palmdale that killed a 7-year-old girl. Jesus Alberto Peralta, 24, and Carlos Peralta, 21, are each charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle and premeditated murder in connection with the death of Desirae Macias, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}