By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times –
SAN FRANCISCO — When Lupe Mercado and Barry Gilton were arrested last month in the slaying of their daughter’s alleged pimp, defense attorneys scoffed that while the couple may have had motive, there was no evidence to link them to the crime.
But cellphone records and an FBI surveillance video paint a chilling picture of a premeditated killing, with Gilton and two other convicted felons at the heart of the plot, District Attorney George Gascon said Friday.
On Thursday, Antonio Gilton — a relative of Barry Gilton’s — and Alfonso Williams were arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court. They pleaded not guilty to the murder of Calvin Sneed, a 22-year-old known member of the Nutty Blocc Compton Crips. Sneed was gunned down in his car near Candlestick Park at 2 a.m. on June 4.
After Mercado, 37, and Barry Gilton, 38, were arrested, police said that Gilton had fired a .40-caliber weapon from his own car into Sneed’s, killing the man the couple believed had turned their 17-year-old daughter to prostitution.
The FBI video — shot in connection with another criminal investigation — showed Barry Gilton had met with Antonio Gilton and Williams less than an hour before the slaying, according to Gascon and court documents. Williams, 35, took a .40-caliber handgun from a Chevy TrailBlazer at 1:18 a.m. and the three men drove off in a Hyundai Tucson that had been rented in Los Angeles by Antonio Gilton’s girlfriend.
In addition, Gascon said, cellphone records place the men together near the murder scene when the shooting occurred.
Gascon described the FBI video as a “significant break” that showed the young woman’s parents did not commit “a crime of passion” but were involved with the other two men in “a conspiracy to commit murder.”
“This, quite frankly, is a drive-by shooting. There is no other way to put it,” Gascon told reporters. “These people conspired. They came together and then went out and they hunted the victim down.”
Mercado and Barry Gilton also have been charged with tracking Sneed to North Hollywood in late May and firing a 9-millimeter handgun at him as he sat in a car.
“The parents did not turn to the police … when Sneed came to San Francisco,” Gascon said. “They knew that Sneed was in San Francisco, but they decided to take the law into their own hands.”
Attorneys for Williams and Antonio Gilton, 26, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Mercado and Barry Gilton’s lawyers said they have yet to see the surveillance video or the cellphone records and would not speculate on their contents.
“We are very confident in Mr. Gilton’s plea of not guilty,” said Eric Safire, his attorney. “We are anxious to get the matter before the judge for a bail reduction hearing, and even more anxious to get in front of a jury.”
Tony Tamburello, who represents Mercado, described his client as “a concerned mother worried about the health and safety of her daughter.” He also said that she had nothing to do with the killing of Sneed, a man he said was “no novice to violence.”
Until the defense sees the video and cellphone records, “I feel a lot of it is conjecture and speculation,” Tamburello said. “They’re saying she notified them of Sneed’s whereabouts and was involved? Tough bananas. They can’t prove that because it didn’t happen. They’re just trying to poison the public.”
Safire said the couple’s daughter was safe, staying with other family members.
The four suspects have been charged with various felonies, including murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and are being held on $2 million bail each. They are scheduled to appear again in court on Thursday.
