Attorneys Wednesday argued to what degree a 26-year-old Costa Mesa man will be held liable for the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy in a freeway dispute between drivers.
Marcus Anthony Eriz, 26, is charged with second-degree murder and shooting at a vehicle, both felonies, and faces sentencing enhancements for the discharge of a gun causing death. Co-defendant Wynne Lee, 26, Eriz’s girlfriend, is awaiting trial for being an accessory after the fact.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman argued for a second-degree murder conviction while Eriz’s attorney, Randall Bethune of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, advocated for a voluntary manslaughter conviction. Jurors will also be able to consider involuntary manslaughter.
At stake is whether Eriz faces 25 years to life in prison or 40 years to life in prison.
Eriz is accused of killing 6-year-old Aiden Leos on May 21, 2021, as his mother, Joanna Cloonan, was driving him to kindergarten in Yorba Linda in her Chevrolet Sonic subcompact on the freeway.
Eriz opted not to testify on his behalf, leaving his hour-long statement to investigators to explain his actions.
The main legal issue in the trial is whether Eriz had time to reflect in the moments he reached into the backseat of the Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen Lee was driving, rack the weapon, roll down the window, and point and shoot at Cloonan’s car. Feldman said it showed what lawyers refer to as “implied malice,” while Bethune argued that Cloonan’s insulting them with a middle-finger provided enough provocation to knock it down from murder to manslaughter.
Feldman pointed out that Eriz took a firearm safety test to possess his 9 mm Glock, which he customized, so he understood how dangerous the weapon could be. The prosecutor also pointed to Eriz saying in his interview with police that he had fired off his automatic rifle from atop a vehicle in the desert.
The prosecutor also pointed to Cloonan’s testimony that Eriz smiled before firing the single round that killed her son.
Eriz concluded “that was hostile … and warranted his Glock response,” Feldman said. “He was teaching her a lesson he felt good about.”
The consequences “made no difference to him,” Feldman said.
“He smiled, squeezed off a round and he couldn’t care less” what happened, Feldman said.
The dispute between the two started when Lee cut off Cloonan, forcing her to suddenly brake to avoid a collision. Lee flashed a peace sign at Cloonan, which “angered her and she vented her frustration. The level of regret she feels is incalculable … But it was his choice … He was looking for someone to step out of line to teach them a lesson, and he smiled as he did it,” the prosecutor said.
Eriz’s actions to grab the gun and fire it out the window met the legal burden for implied malice murder, Feldman argued.
“This took thought,” he said. “This wasn’t an example of accidental discharge (of a gun).”
Eriz had the gun in the car for several months, Feldman argued. “He carried this gun for this exact moment. He knew and understood the danger and he did it anyway.”
Feldman said he didn’t have to prove whether Eriz knew the boy was in the car or not.
“I don’t have to prove he’s a sniper,” Feldman said. “Or that he couldn’t do it again … It’s the worst coincidence, but it wasn’t done without implied malice.”
Feldman rejected “heat of passion” arguments, pointing to Eriz’s statement to police that he didn’t feel angry when he fired the round.
Feldman also noted that Eriz switched out the vehicles he and Lee were taking to work in the hour-long commute each day when Eriz finally realized he was the one who shot Aiden. The defendant also shaved off his beard.
“Don’t forget he ditched the car in another county,” Feldman said. “And he reloaded that gun (after the shooting), so let that sink in.”
Bethune implored the jurors to make an dispassionate review of the facts in the emotional case. Eriz is “perfectly willing to accept culpability for a voluntary manslaughter,” Bethune said.
The defense attorney explained that a “heat of passion” killing “does not require anger, rage or any specific emotion.”
He added, “What about fear? What about anxiety? … The question for you is was he acting rashly or was he acting deliberately.”
The law, Bethune argued, allows for a reduced crime of manslaughter if a killing was provoked in some way that made the killer act in a rash or unreasonable way. Bethune pointed to Eriz’s repeated statements during his interview with police that he couldn’t explain what prompted him to react the way he did.
“He didn’t have any intent whatsoever,” Bethune argued. “He rashly pulled that trigger. It’s that simple.”
Bethune also disputed Cloonan’s account that Eriz grinned before firing off the round. Bethune pointed to the testimony of another witness, Raul Martinez, whose account of the sequence of events differed from Cloonan’s.
Bethune suggested that Eriz may have smiled as Lee made the peace sign, but not before he fired the gun. Bethune also doubted Cloonan’s testimony that she feared Eriz and Lee after being cut off and waited until it was clear for her to exit the high-occupancy lane to get away from them.
After Cloonan was cut off, “She spends the next 10 seconds yelling and giving the finger,” Bethune said.
Eriz took likely about five seconds to reach for the weapon, roll down the automatic window and fire off a round, so that could not be enough time for him to deliberate over his actions, Bethune argued.
Martinez’s account matches Eriz’s in his interview with police, Bethune said. Martinez “is not our witness,” Bethune noted. “He gives a fair description of what he saw. It’s consistent with Mr. Eriz’s statement.”
Bethune said his client’s statement to police was “authentic” and “honest.” He made no move to switch out vehicles right away or to try to flee the country or dispose of the gun, Bethune said.
Instead, Eriz gave police specific instructions on where to find the gun in his toolbox at work at an auto repair shop in Highland, Bethune said.
Eriz switched the vehicles the two were taking to work when he realized he was Aiden’s killer because he wanted to spare his girlfriend from getting into trouble, Bethune argued.