Parolee held in musician’s killing

Posted on June 25, 2009. Filed under: Parole |

June 17, 2009

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

SAN BERNARDINO – A gang member was jailed Wednesday in connection with the robbery and slaying of an aspiring musician at a city park.

Detectives arrested Erik Ibarra at 3 p.m. as he walked to his home in the 2600 block of East Second Street, said San Bernardino police homicide Sgt. Dave Dillon.

The 24-year-old parolee was identified as a suspect in Sunday night’s fatal shooting of Michael Edayan at Blair Park through evidence left behind, Dillon said.

A second suspect, whose name was not released, remains at large.

Police said they believe it was Ibarra who fired the bullets that struck Edayan at 11:12 p.m.

The victim and four friends were drinking beer and listening to music inside the West Marshall Boulevard park when some other men approached, accompanied by two women.

One of the men pulled a handgun and demanded money, but the group didn’t have any, Dillon said.

The robbers took their beer instead. As they left, words were exchanged and the gunman turned back and fired, Dillon said.

Edayan, a 22-year-old punk rock enthusiast from Highland, died there.

“It was very cold blooded,” Dillon said.

Ibarra belongs to a gang in Monrovia, a small city bordering Pasadena, Dillon said. He was booked into jail on suspicion of murder, and held without bail.

Earlier this month, Edayan made his first live performance at a Redlands bar, singing one of his own compositions.

On MySpace, he wrote passionately of art, activism and being “a heart broken fool trying to save his soul along with rock and roll.”

“If you are not satisfied with the way things are,” he wrote, “let your voice be heard.”

Parolee arrested for burglary – Out of Prison for Just Two Months

Posted on June 25, 2009. Filed under: Parole |

Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009

By VICTOR A. PATTON vpatton@mercedsun-star.com 

A parolee who’d only been out of prison for two months is behind bars again, after Merced police arrested him Tuesday on suspicion of burglary. Rex Eugene Archer, 28, was arrested shortly after 4 a.m. after he allegedly burglarized three houses and six cars in the 3100 block of Dublin Avenue and 3300 block of Shamrock Place. Police responded after a male resident on Shamrock Place spotted the suspect. The witness noticed that Archer had opened the garage door, and was entering the kitchen of his residence. The resident was startled, and chased Archer for a short distance, according to Cmdr. Floyd Higdon. The victim discovered that a car parked outside had been entered and ransacked. A garage door opener was also missing from inside the car, Higdon said. After arriving at the scene, police noticed the garage doors to other homes had been opened. Police contacted another resident on Shamrock Place, who learned that property from his garage was missing, Higdon said. Archer was then spotted by police, seated in the driver’s seat of a car in front of the home, with the rear hatch open. Although the resident said the car belonged to him, Archer claimed his name was “Craig,” saying that he lived at the home, Higdon said. The owners of the house and car said they didn’t know Archer, adding that he didn’t have permission to be in their car. Inside the car, police also found a variety of items from the homes that had been broken into, such as a guitar with a case, jewelry, a chainsaw, garage door openers and other items, Higdon said. Archer was then taken into custody. Higdon said the man who chased Archer also identified him during an in-field lineup. Higdon said police located three houses and six cars that Archer had broken into, taking about $1,330 worth of property. Archer later admitted committing the burglaries and gave a full statement to police, Higdon said. He was booked into the Merced County Jail, where he remains without bail.

Grieving Widower and Defense Attorney Denounces Major Problems with SB 399 Passed by California Senate

Posted on June 11, 2009. Filed under: Parole |

PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release: June 6, 2009

(Lafayette, California ) This week the California Senate passed SB 399, a bill sponsored by Senator Leland Yee that would give all murderers sentenced to Life Without the Possibility of Parole, who were under age 18 at the time of their crimes, a chance at parole. Defense Attorney Daniel Horowitz, widower of a woman murdered by one of these 240 or so California “special circumstance” murderers, has been studying the situation closely and to highlight the major problems he sees with the bill, he has put up a new website: http://sb399.com

Daniel Horowitz says: “On October 15, 2005, my wife Pamela was murdered by a young man who was just shy of 17 years of age. He was a serial killer by his own design.  Pamela’s courageous fight for her life marked this killer and created the forensic evidence that led to his conviction.  Had she not fought so bravely, he would have escaped and he would have killed again, and again. SB 399 is a bill that will change California’s criminal sentencing system and it will give a chance at parole for all people who killed if they did this before they were 18 years of age. This parole would be available to Child Rapist/Murderers, Torturers, and Serial Killers. I oppose injustice but we must not use isolated instances of injustice as an excuse to free serial killers. There are other minor reform solutions available to those few cases that need to be addressed, that would not at the same time endanger the rest of us. And we must avoid adding an immense new expense to an already over-burdened state budget.”

Mr. Horowitz did a professional analysis of the financial costs of SB 399 to the taxpayers of California and published his findings on the website. It shows that SB 399 would be incredibly expensive – and in a state already overwhelmed by financial burdens for even basic necessities it cannot afford. Daniel Horowitz also published on his website a detailed critique of a report published by Human Rights Watch that led directly to the creation of SB 399. It turns out the report on the California “juvenile life without parole” situation is flawed and ridden with errors. Mr. Horowitz continues his practice as a defense attorney who also works as a supporter of victims of juvenile murderers like himself.

Many in the state of California who are concerned with public safety, victims of violent crime, and law enforcement have come out against SB 399. These groups include the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, Inc., Crime Victims United of California, Klaas Kids Foundation, Crime Victims Action Alliance, the California District Attorneys Association, and others. NOVJL, the National Organization of Victims of “Juvenile Lifers”, is greatly concerned with not only the real danger many families face if these offenders were to be released early, but also the un-ending re-traumatization of parole hearings for the rest of their lives these victims’ families would face, should this bill become law. We call on Senator Yee to hold further action on the bill until he has worked with the prosecutors of the state to find and notify all the victims of these crimes about his intention to try to change these life sentences. Senator Yee’s retroactive intention to undo the life without parole sentences of those who murdered their loved ones violates victims’ constitutional rights by denying them knowledge of, and a voice in, their own cases.
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