Gang violence murder in La Mesa added to existing case

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Two men who are accused of committing a 2013 murder in La Mesa were charged Friday with another slaying in La Mesa that occurred in 2011.

The men pleaded not guilty to fatally shooting Darris Gadson-Walker, 20, a Grossmont College student who was shot on April 30, 2011 in a rear parking lot of the Marie Callender’s restaurant on Alvarado Road near 70th Street.

Two men who are accused of committing a 2013 murder in La Mesa were charged Friday with another slaying in La Mesa that occurred in 2011.

The men pleaded not guilty to fatally shooting Darris Gadson-Walker, 20, a Grossmont College student who was shot on April 30, 2011 in a rear parking lot of the Marie Callender’s restaurant on Alvarado Road near 70th Street.

The same men are charged with killing Xusha Brown, Jr. 22, who was fatally wounded on May 5, 2013, while Brown was a passenger in a car on Interstate 8.

Anthony Constantin Frank, 25, and Donte Jerome Haddock, 25, are charged with both killings while Alaeante Eason, 26, is charged only with the Brown homicide.

The charges say both slayings were committed in association with a criminal street gang.  Frank and Haddock were also charged with conspiracy. The charges allege they both rode to La Mesa with guns and hid in some bushes before the men fired 6-7 times.

All three men agreed to waive time for a speedy preliminary hearing and San Diego Superior Court Judge Lisa Rodriguez set it for Sept. 11. The men were charged in Brown’s murder in July, 2016, and they all remain in jail.

Santee woman convicted of armed robbery

A Santee woman has been convicted of armed robbery of a CVS Pharmacy clerk after she demanded a prescription pain reliever.

The El Cajon Superior Court jury deliberated about three hours before convicting Nataley Ann Gutierrez, 30, in a 6-day trial.

Gutierrez had been free on $100,000 bond, but was remanded to jail by Judge Robert Amador after she was convicted April 18.

The incident took place at the CVS Pharmacy on Mission Gorge Road in Santee on April 7, 2015. Gutierrez demanded the drug Percocet at 4:30 a.m. and pulled a handgun.

Deputy District Attorney George Modlin said Gutierrez faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Man to stand trial in Spring Valley hit and run

Andrew Wesam Thouzen, 18, has been ordered to stand trial on July 25 in the hit and run death of James Sonny Martinez, 75, in Spring Valley.

Four witnesses testified in the preliminary hearing heard by Judge Robert Amador on April 19. The incident occurred Feb. 7 on Sweetwater Road around 10 p.m.

Thouzen returned to the scene an hour later with his father. The California Highway Patrol recovered a damaged Mercedes about a mile from the scene.

Thouzen, of Spring Valley, pleaded not guilty and remains free on $75,000 bond.

Man pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter of Lakeside man

Brian Jeffrey Baldino, 32, has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Randy Vogler in Lakeside in 2008.

Baldino is expected to get a 12-year prison term when El Cajon Superior Court Judge Lantz Lewis sentences him on May 5.

A jury deadlocked 10-2 for conviction of murder in March and a mistrial was declared when they could not reach a verdict. Baldino pleaded guilty April 14 and a murder charge was dismissed.

A co-defendant, Destin Lee Withers, 41, was convicted in a separate trial of first-degree murder in 2016. Withers was sentenced Jan. 20 to life in prison without the possibility of parole and is serving another life sentence for another slaying.

Vogler, 28, was shot to death Feb. 11, 2008, at 10:35 p.m. as he walked in the 12200 block of Woodside Ave. in Lakeside. Vogler worked at a carnival a block away.

Baldino and Withers were first charged with the slaying in 2014 following a long investigation. Two men with shaved heads were seen driving away from the scene.