Gang Member Guilty of 2nd-Degree Murder

SANTA ANA —  By the time he was 22 years old, Eleazar Gonzales had been acquitted of one murder, charged with another and had earned a reputation as one of the city’s most dangerous gang members.

But Gonzalez will spend much of the next two decades behind bars after an Orange County Superior Court jury on Tuesday convicted the Santa Ana resident, now 24, of second-degree murder in the April 20, 1990, slaying of 17-year-old Roger Ochoa.

Ochoa, also of Santa Ana, was shot repeatedly in the back following a dispute with Gonzales at a birthday party, officials said.

“This was one of the most ruthless, cold-blooded murders I’ve seen,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Randolph J. Pawloski said. “He tried to intimidate witnesses. He is one of the most hard-core gang members.”

Gonzales faces a sentence of 24 years to life in prison on July 2 when he is sentenced on murder and other charges, including being a gang member and possessing a weapon after an earlier conviction on a weapons charge. He could serve less than 24 years with credit for time served and good behavior.

Defense attorney William Morrissey said he did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to prove that his client was guilty of the murder.

“There was not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the gunman,” Morrissey said. “He’s upset, but he’s hanging on,” Morrissey said of his client.

A mistrial was declared in 1991 when an earlier jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case, officials said.

In February, 1990, Gonzales was acquitted of the 1988 murder of gang member Juan Picon, 21, despite eyewitness testimony that he shot the victim in the head eight times, officials said. Two months after the acquittal, Gonzales was arrested for the slaying of Ochoa.

Gonzales claimed in an interview shortly after his arrest that police were trying to frame him for Ochoa’s murder in retaliation for the earlier murder acquittal.