San Diego

A judge Wednesday ordered two brothers to stand trial for three execution-style killings committed in April in a Southeast San Diego garage.

After a preliminary hearing that began Nov. 25, Ronaldo Ayala, 34, and Hector Ayala, 33, were bound over for trial by San Diego Municipal Court Judge Laura Hammes, who ordered them held without bail.

The brothers are accused of fatally shooting Ernesto Mendez Dominguez, 30; Marco Antonio Zamora-Villa, 31, and Jose Luis Rositas, 24, on April 26 in Chavas Radiator Shop on South 43rd Street.

A survivor of the shooting, Pedro Castillo Jr., 39, testified that the Ayalas shot his friends. A third co-defendant, Joseph Moreno, 45, remains a fugitive.

Hammes noted that allegations during the hearing surfaced that the Ayalas were members of the “Mexican mafia.” She said some of the witnesses appeared to be afraid of the defendants.

The judge also ordered special circumstances to stand because of the multiple deaths. If convicted of first-degree murder, the brothers could be sentenced to death.

“It really boils down to Pedro Castillo. I believe Pedro Castillo as far as the identity (of the gunmen),” the judge said.

Hammes said in court that she believed that Castillo probably was aware of heroin being used in the shop, but that his denial of knowledge of drug dealing does not negate his testimony as to who shot the three men.

“I do believe there was a robbery. I believe the murders were first degree,” Hammes ruled.

The Ayalas were also ordered to stand trial for robbery and attempted robbery of Castillo and the other victims.