Defendant's DNA found on weapon, expert says

NORWALK - The DNA of a gang member accused of killing a sheriff's deputy was found on what is believed to be the murder weapon, according to expert witness testimony on Wednesday.

The jury in the trial of Jose Luis Orozco, a Hawaiian Gardens gang member accused of gunning down Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Ortiz in 2005, was given a lengthy introduction to basic forensic science Wednesday.

Prosecutors called two sheriff's crime lab experts, who testified about a number of items found at the murder scene, on the victim, on the defendant and on a witness that were tested for DNA.

Several DNA samples were found on the .38-caliber revolver allegedly used by Orozco to shoot Ortiz.

Most of the samples - lifted from the gun's muzzle, trigger, hammer, interior handle and exterior handle - matched Orozco's, said senior criminalist Gregory Wong. The probability that those same DNA samples could match another person, he calculated, were 20 quadrillion to one.

"It's your opinion that this matches the defendant's DNA?" Deputy District Attorney Lowell Anger asked.

"Yes," Wong said.

Defense attorney Robin Yanes focused on part of the test results, which showed the DNA of an unknown person was found mixed in with Orozco's.

"It seemed to my eye, looking at the chart, that the only item that had mixtures (of other people's DNA) on it was the gun, is that correct?" Yanes asked.

"Yes," Wong said.

"That means that somebody else touched the gun ... ?" the attorney asked.

"Yes," the expert said.

Anger asked if it could have been left by an officer who handled the gun after the shooting, and Wong said that was possible. He also agreed with the defense when they asked if it was possible the other person's DNA was left on the gun before it was fired, and that the DNA tests cannot be used to determine when a person handled the gun.

Most of the witnesses called to testify Wednesday talked about items seized as evidence in the investigation and chronicled the careful handling of those objects, from the clothing stripped off the body of the slain deputy to numerous bullets collected from inside the home where Orozco was discovered hiding from authorities.

Prosecutors broke up the stream of technical testimony with one character witness, one of Orozco's fellow Hawaiian Gardens gang members who testified that he called authorities to tell them Orozco had been talking about killing a cop before Ortiz's murder.

The witness, who was brought into court wearing an orange Los Angeles County Jail jumpsuit, testified that he was in jail for violating his probation on drug charges. Authorities asked that the witness' name be withheld out of concern for his safety.

He told the jury he has been a member of Barrio Hawaiian Gardens since he was jumped into the gang in 1979. Although he and Orozco were members of different cliques, he said he had known Orozco most of his life and considered him a friend.

"He's my homie," he testified.

Asked if he still considered himself a member, the witness said, "Yes, I am, till death."

He went on to testify that Orozco had bragged to him about shooting a black man on Joliet Street prior to Ortiz's death.

Ortiz was investigating that incident when he chased Orozco to an apartment complex in the 12200 block of East 223rd Street on June 24, 2005. As Ortiz checked the identification of a man inside one of the apartments, Orozco allegedly hid on the other side of the door and shot the deputy through the crack at point-blank range, according to police and prosecutors.

It was when Orozco was talking about the murder, the witness recalled, that he boasted about taking things even further.

"He said that he's going to go balls-out and that nobody's going to stop him," the gang member said.

Asked if he thought that was a threat against the police, he agreed.

Orozco had talked about killing a police officer in other conversations because he wanted to ingratiate himself with the Mexican Mafia, a powerful prison gang that controls most Hispanic street gangs in Southern California, the witness testified.

"He said he wanted to put the Barrio on the map, let everyone know Hawaiian Gardens was No. 1 so no one would f--- with us, excuse my language," he said.

"But we were already on the map, he did that on his own," the gang member stressed.

Anger also asked the witness if he had been offered any special treatment by authorities, or if he had been forced to give them that information.

"No, I did it on my own," he said. "I don't think it was right."

Defense attorney Stan Perlo asked the witness when his conversation with Orozco took place, noting that the gang member told investigators shortly after the killing it had occurred a few weeks before Ortiz's death, not a few days, as he testified in court.

The witness said he didn't recall giving a timeline to police, prompting Perlo to ask if he was using drugs at the time.

"I'm taking methadone. I wasn't using drugs all the time," he said.

Perlo then asked if he knew the defendant to be a heavy drug user, particularly in the period before the deputy's murder.

"Yes," he said.

Testimony will resume at 9 a.m. today in Dept. R at Norwalk Superior Court.