A convicted felon and his three cohorts accused of killing a 35-year-old man while burglarizing his La Cresta home must stand trial for first-degree murder and other charges, a judge ruled Friday.
Jose Daniel Aguilar, 31, Manuel Luna Rico, 39, Enrique Rojas Jr., 40, and Richard Charlie Smith, 25, are accused of gunning down Andrew Cisneros in 2023.
Following a preliminary hearing at the Southwest Justice Center Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Joshua Knight found sufficient evidence to bound all of the men over for trial on the murder count, along with burglary, robbery and special-circumstance allegations of killing in the course of a burglary and killing during the commission of a robbery.
Rojas was additionally held to answer on sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations, while Smith was additionally bound over on a sentence-enhancing allegation of perpetrating a felony while on bail.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for the foursome on Sept. 18 at the Murrieta courthouse.
All of the defendants are being held without bail — Aguilar at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio, and Rico, Rojas and Smith at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Ben Ramirez, on the evening of Feb. 26, 2023, the defendants allegedly broke into Cisneros’ residence in the 38000 block of Via Majorca, near Via Baya, just west of Murrieta. During the break-in, there was a confrontation between the victim and defendants, who allegedly shot the homeowner several times, Ramirez said.
The men fled as witnesses called 911, he said. Paramedics reached the outlying location a short time later, unsuccessfully attempting resuscitative measures, the sergeant said. Cisneros died at the scene.
Central Homicide Unit detectives initiated an investigation that ultimately pointed to the four defendants as the alleged assailants. Aguilar was the first taken into custody less than a week later, while his co-defendants were located and arrested without incident two to three weeks after the deadly shooting.
Court records show Aguilar has prior convictions for auto theft, receiving a stolen vehicle, felony evading, being a felon in possession of an assault weapon and resisting arrest. The other men have no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.