LOS ANGELES – District Attorney Steve Cooley
announced today that the man charged with the 1998 murder of
12-year-old Steven Morales arrived in Los Angeles this
morning from Mexico, making him the third fugitive charged
with murder to be successfully extradited since November
2005.
Alvaro Luna Jara, 27, had been awaiting extradition to
the U.S. since his June 22, 2006 arrest by U.S. Marshal’s
and Mexican authorities in Nayarit, Mexico.
“Our message to murder suspects – you can run, but you
cannot hide across the border any longer,” Cooley said
during a news conference. “We will find you. We will
extradite you. We will secure justice for your victims.”
Cooley said the Los Angeles County D.A.’s office is
entering a new era in the extradition process. The
experience gained in successfully extraditing fugitives from
Mexico is now being shared with many other law enforcement
and prosecutorial agencies around California and the nation.
“We’re providing training to law enforcement agencies all
over the United States on how to locate and bring suspects
back to the Unites States to stand trial,” he said. “Our
patience and persistence in working through the challenges
presented by the Mexican Supreme Court have paid off for the
families of victims awaiting justice in Los Angeles and
elsewhere.
Steven Morales was shot and killed around 7:15 p.m. on
Aug. 29, 1998, when he was playing with several other
children in front of an apartment building in the 200 block
of South Avenue 58. It was a drive-by shooting and the
intended victims apparently were members of a rival street
gang who were adjacent to where the children were playing.
Two to three rounds were fired at the Avenues gang
members by Dogtown gang members near the children,
authorities said. Steven was hit in the head and collapsed
in the apartment building driveway. He died a day later. The
Los Angeles Police Department investigated the case.
Prosecutors filed one count of murder and three counts of
attempted murder against Jara, an admitted Dogtown gang
member, about a week after the shooting. The defendant fled
to Mexico.
Although he is a U.S. citizen, Mexican authorities twice
refused to deport Jara in 2001 and again in 2004.
But after the Mexican Supreme Court reversed an earlier
decision and ruled on Nov. 29, 2005 that criminal suspects
facing life in prison sentences abroad can be extradited
from Mexico for prosecution, the Los Angeles County D.A.’s
office has aggressively sought to extradite murder suspects
to back Los Angeles to stand trial.
jr
