September 27, 2007

3 men plead not guilty in Placentia murder case
Supporters of accused men wear T-shirts reading 'I was framed.'
By ADAM TOWNSEND
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Three men arrested this summer in connection with the 1994 stabbing death of Cathy Torrez, a 20-year-old Placentia resident found dead in her car’s trunk, entered not guilty pleas today.

A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 12.

Cousins Sam Lopez, 35, and Xavier Lopez, 35, were arrested in July on suspicion of murder. Armando Lopez, 36, Sam Lopez’s brother, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to murder and on suspicion of dissuading witnesses.

About two dozen Lopez friends and family members showed up in support of the accused, many wearing T-shirts reading “Team Lopez” on the front and “I was framed” on the back.

“How can you honor the memory of the dead by persecuting the innocent?” said Lopez family member Miguel “Gorilla” Lopez.

The arraignment had been postponed a number of times, and Judge Kazuharu Makino continued with the proceeding over the objections of defense lawyers who said they didn’t have all the evidence against their clients.

Makino ordered the prosecuting attorneys to hand over the most recent evidence in the case today.

In August, Placentia police traveled to San Jose to arrest Juan Gustavo Barroso, 34, who lives in that city, on suspicion of being an accessory after the fact to the Torrez slaying. Barroso’s lawyer, Jake Brower, said today that he is going to file a motion to separate his client’s proceedings from those of the others.

Cathy Torrez went missing for a week in February 1994. She was stabbed to death and her body was found in the trunk of her car in the parking lot of Placentia-Linda Hospital.

Community members rallied around the family, and the city named an after-school tutoring center after Torrez, who had been a sociology student at Cal State Fullerton. People contributed reward money for information leading to an arrest and for scholarships in her name.

Police at the time said heavy rains over the week washed away most forensic evidence. But an official with the District Attorney’s Office this July said improvements in technology yielded genetic evidence strong enough to bring a case against the Lopezes.

Sam Lopez, Torrez’s former boyfriend, had been under police suspicion since the beginning.