Jury deliberations got underway Thursday in the trial of a man accused of gunning down a marijuana dealer whose girlfriend and toddler were with him when he was robbed and shot on a deserted Winchester road.
Ricky Martin Ortiz, 24, of Riverside is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of firearm assault, a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations for the 2020 attack on 21-year-old Gustavo Hernandez.
The prosecution and defense delivered closing statements Thursday, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni sent the jury behind closed doors to begin weighing evidence from the two-week trial.
No verdict was reached, and jurors were slated to resume deliberations Friday morning at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Ortiz is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
His co-defendants, Omar Arango and Joe Natividad Orosco, both 24 and of Riverside, reached plea agreements with the District Attorney’s Office prior to trial proceedings. Each man admitted an armed robbery charge, and in exchange, prosecutors dropped a murder count against both.
Arango was sentenced in September, though the specific term of imprisonment could not be confirmed. Orosco, who’s being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is slated for sentencing on Jan. 8.
According to a trial brief filed by the prosecution, Ortiz and Hernandez were acquainted through prior marijuana sales, and the victim told his girlfriend, whose identity was not disclosed, that he “trusted” the defendant.
When Ortiz arranged to rendezvous with Hernandez on the night of March 4, 2020, in the 28000 block of Whitaker Street, which is dirt and lacks street lights, on the north end of Winchester, the victim was unconcerned, according to court papers.
Orosco drove Ortiz to the location, joined by Arango and an unidentified teenage boy, in his Volkswagen Jetta, prosecutors said.
Hernandez, joined by his two-year-old son and girlfriend, both of whom were in the backseat of his Nissan Altima, went to the location, encountering Orosco’s car parked on the east side of the street. The prosecution alleged that Ortiz intended to rob Hernandez of the two packages of marijuana he was selling, and that the defendant had informed his cohorts of his intentions prior to leaving for the transaction.
Ortiz walked over to the victim’s car and was allowed to sit in the passenger seat because it was cold, according to the brief. The defendant initially indicated doubts about wanting to make the buy, but he was allowed to take pictures of the cannabis on his phone, which he said he would share with his friends to make a decision on the purchase, the narrative stated.
However, after he got out of the Nissan and started to walk toward Orosco’s vehicle, Ortiz abruptly swung around, pulled a six-shot revolver and opened fire, striking Hernandez in the face, chest and arms, prosecutors allege.
“The victim’s girlfriend was in the backseat, watching as Ortiz callously murdered the father of her child, (whom) she instinctively grabbed and sheltered by placing him down on the floorboard,” the brief stated.
After firing all six rounds from his pistol, Ortiz called Arango over to assist him, and the two grabbed the marijuana packages, then began searching for money and other valuables in Hernandez’s pockets until his girlfriend screamed at them to leave, prosecutors said.
Hernandez died at the scene.
After the defendants fled the location, the woman ran for help, finding an occupied home several blocks away, according to the brief.
Sheriff’s detectives began gathering evidence from Hernandez’s Snapchat and other social media accounts, where he had been arranging marijuana sales, including with Ortiz, court papers said.
Three days later, sufficient evidence had been gathered to allegedly connect Ortiz and Arango to the fatal shooting, and the pair were arrested without incident. Orosco was taken into custody two weeks later. The teen who had been with them was not charged.
Among evidence gleaned from Ortiz’s social media records were “several photos picturing Ortiz (and) Arango posing for the camera, holding up bags of marijuana on the day after the murder,” the brief alleged.
The defendants had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.