Valley Fair mall shooting: Three charged with helping teen suspect plead not guilty, allowed bail
SAN JOSE When the -year-old accused of the Black Friday shooting at Westfield Valley Fair mall encountered trouble in the past court records allege he could count on two people to have his back his older brother and his brother s girlfriend Christian Joel Duran of San Jose appears in court to answer for a charge of being an accessory in a Nov shooting at Westfield Valley Fair mall at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose Calif on Thursday Dec The shooting injured three people allegedly at the hands of a -year-old boy who has been charged with attempted murder Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Both are now charged with being an accessory to the mall shooting that wounded three people including a -year-old man wearing rival gang colors and two teenage shoppers the day after Thanksgiving for allegedly harboring the minor until he was arrested two days later The two of them plus a -year-old man pleaded not guilty in court Thursday But the brother Christian Duran and his girlfriend Allana Nevaeh Murillo were already facing charges stemming from a schoolyard melee two years ago That s when according to a criminal complaint the -year-old summoned his brother to James Lick High School where he felt insulted by a classmate who advised him to pull up his pants A group of Duran s friends also demonstrated up and allegedly pummeled the classmate on school grounds while Murillo stood by When a professor followed Murillo to her car to take photos the complaint alleges Morillo attacked her so violently and repeatedly that the mentor was taken to the hospital by ambulance with a concussion and bleeding eyeball Both were awaiting court dates in that occurrence when they along with their -month-old daughter in a stroller went to the mall on Black Friday with Duran s younger brother Allana Nevaeh Murillo from San Jose appears in court to answer for a charge of being an accessory in a Nov shooting at Westfield Valley Fair mall at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose Calif on Thursday Dec The shooting injured three people allegedly at the hands of a -year-old boy who has been charged with attempted murder Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group In arguing for the three to be jailed for the duration of the scenario prosecutors allege that they helped the teen escape the crime scene and elude capture But their lawyers explained in court Thursday that they have not been convicted in the development and are presumed innocent They took no part in the shooting attorneys commented and were fleeing like everyone else when the shooting broke out She was not in selected clandestine location when she was arrested she was at her own home Murillo s defense attorney Cody Salfen declared in court Thursday She ran and did what any other reasonable person would do She protected her child Duran and Murillo along with Evan John Moniz a father of five have all been charged with being a felony accessory in the Nov shooting Officials backed by surveillance video say a -year-old boy Duran s brother opened fire in the crowded mall during an apparent gang-related clash The boy who is charged in juvenile court with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon allegedly shot a man through the chest miraculously causing no critical injuries and wounded two bystanders an -year-old woman and -year-old girl Evan John Moniz of San Jose appears in court to answer for a charge of being an accessory in a Nov shooting at Westfield Valley Fair mall at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose Calif on Thursday Dec The shooting injured three people allegedly at the hands of a -year-old boy who has been charged with attempted murder Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Murillo Duran and Moniz were in Santa Clara County jail custody when they made their first court appearances Wednesday at the Hall of Justice in San Jose Deputy District Attorney Daisy Altamore made a peremptory challenge to remove the affair from sitting arraignment Judge Hector Ramon The challenge which allows an attorney to request a different judge without stating a reason led to the matter being transferred to Judge Benjamin Williams who ultimately preserved bail for Murillo and Duran and bail to Moniz all in line with the court bail schedule Murillo and Moniz were out of custody Thursday after they posted bond or the full bail while Duran appeared in court in jail custody Williams then scheduled a Dec preliminary examination for the accessory charges Moniz had no serious criminal history in the county prior to the shooting court records show The bail amounts for Murillo and Duran were higher because they both have pending felony assault charges related to the Aug gang-related brawl at James Lick High School In a current related motion seeking mental-health diversion instead of jail or prison time Murillo cited post-traumatic stress from an abusive and neglected childhood and characterized the tutor as harassing her and triggering a fight or flight response Prosecutors objected and wrote in their own motion that the video evidence proves that defendant is the initial aggressor and noted that the guide did not fight back Altamore cited this history in arguing that the new accessory charges don t reflect the full danger the three adult defendants pose if allowed to remain out of jail That danger she announced is compounded by their complicity in the mall shooting she argued did not just have three sufferers but thousands who fled for their lives The rare peremptory challenge against Ramon appears to have been driven by the District Attorney s Office s displeasure with the judge over past decisions to grant bail or pretrial release to high-profile criminal defendants The majority contemporary instance was Nov in which Ramon granted supervised release to two people charged with a fatal cold-case shooting in Sunnyvale Ramon s decision was challenged by prosecutors but he ultimately upheld his ruling siding with constituents defenders who questioned the strength of the murder affair and argued the two defendants had no violent criminal histories Related Articles After beating Oakland murder charge defendants pleads no contest to misdemeanor manslaughter Police Despite attempted cover-up man is charged in homicide of girlfriend in Hayward A year after being recalled from office Pamela Price announces new campaign for Alameda County district attorney A cold calculated intent Haunting video proves Bay Area artist was tortured to death DA says Bay Area sex offender accused of sending explicit messages to teens The Black Friday shooting was announced around p m on a second-floor walkway near the Macy s women s store on the San Jose side of the mall the other half of the property lies in Santa Clara jurisdiction According to a San Jose police review summary that cited video surveillance and onlookers the teen suspect and three adult defendants arrived at the mall wearing red clothing and encountered a group of men wearing blue who they associated with a rival street gang A brief verbal altercation occurred before the teen pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired six shots inflicting a through and through wound on the male victim and leg wounds to the two female bystanders After the defendants were arrested Sunday night San Jose police revealed that the boy accused of the shooting was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed gun in February and that the charge was suspended with a deferred entry of judgment contingent on him completing court-ordered rehabilitation requirements The DA s office has requested that judge move his development out of juvenile court and into adult court where he could face a lengthy prison term if convicted Staff writer Caelyn Pender contributed to this assessment
