 On May 5, 1996 nineteen-year-old Tiffany Rios was gunned down as she sat
in Gerardo Fuentes’ car in front of an East Los Angeles apartment complex.
Tiffany died immediately as a result of a gunshot wound to her head. Another
passenger in the car, thirty-four-year-old David Martinez, was also shot in
the head. He was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery. David
survived the life threatening head injuries.
The police investigation revealed that Tiffany Rios, David Martinez and
Gerardo Fuentes were returning to the apartment complex from the store when a
car pulled up beside them. A passenger in the car, twenty-one-year-old Angel
Jimenez, leaned out a window and fired into Fuentes’ car. Angel Jimenez, a
"Lopez Maravilla" gang member fired into Fuentes’ car in retaliation for an
earlier drive-by shooting by "Arizona Maravilla" gang members.
After the shooting, Angel Jimenez, a Mexican national, fled to Mexico. The
Mexican government arrested and prosecuted Jimenez for these crimes pursuant
to Article IV of the Mexican Constitution. On September 30, 2000 Angel
Jimenez was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for the
murder of Tiffany Rios and the attempted murders of David Martinez
and Gerardo Fuentes. The victims’ families could not observe the
trial or give any input at the sentencing. If Jimenez had been
prosecuted and convicted in California, he would have been sentenced
to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment. Thanks to AB1432,
California prosecutors will now have the ability to leave the
warrant in the system and prosecute the defendant should he ever
choose to return to the United States.
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