A state appeals court panel Tuesday ordered a man’s murder conviction to be vacated in connection with a Los Angeles Police Department officer’s shooting death nearly 27 years ago.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal agreed with the defense’s contention that there is insufficient evidence that Jaime “Alex” Mares, now 48, aided and abetted fellow gang member Oscar Zatarain — the gunman — in the Nov. 29, 1998, killing of LAPD Officer Brian Brown after an earlier shooting that left an 18-year-old man dead and a police pursuit that ended near a Culver City shopping mall.
Brown — whose seatbelt was still on and whose gun was still holstered — was fatally shot in the head by Zatarain, who was shot and killed in a gunfight with other police officers. The officer was a 27-year-old single father who left behind a son who was 7 at the time.
The appellate court panel’s 15-page ruling came in response to an April 2023 decision by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen rejecting Mares’ bid for re-sentencing under a recent change in state law that affects the cases of some people convicted of murder.
The judge said at the April 2023 hearing that the evidence showed that Mares “did go out hunting with the intent to kill” involving an initial shooting that left Gerardo Sernas dead and said he was convinced there was an intent to kill police officers who had pursued Mares and Zatarain after hearing the gunshots that killed Sernas.
In its 15-page ruling, the appellate court panel wrote that Mares “quickly fled the scene and abandoned Zatarain” following a high-speed police pursuit that ended after the two-door Honda Civic containing the two crashed into a median and that there was “no evidence defendant knew Zatarain was going to shoot at the officers.”
The justices ordered a judge to grant the defense’s petition on the count involving the slain officer and to vacate Mares’ murder conviction on that charge.
The panel, however, rejected the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support Mares’ conviction on three counts of attempted murder involving three other police officers who were involved in the pursuit.
The justices noted that “it can reasonably be inferred defendant intended to kill” those officers by “leading them on a dangerous high-speed chase” through a densely populated residential area while ignoring stop signs and traffic lights.
The ruling did not note any challenge to Mares’ conviction for first-degree murder for the killing of Sernas, who had only recently moved to the area from Mexico and was mistakenly targeted in a gang-related retaliatory shooting.
Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers — who was one of the prosecutors in Mares’ trial — told City News Service, “I totally, absolutely disagree with this opinion.”
The prosecutor said she feels “very sorry” for Brown’s son, Dylon, who had testified during Mares’ trial in 2001 that he never wanted his father to be a police officer because he thought the job was dangerous.
Meyers said she is hoping that the California Attorney General’s Office appeals the decision, which could otherwise result in Mares being re-sentenced from life without the possibility of parole to an indeterminate life prison term that would allow for the possibility of parole.
Mares, who testified in his own defense during his trial, denied firing at Sernas or Sernas’ friend and said he ran from the ensuing shootout with police.
“When he started shooting, it caught me by surprise,” Mares testified in his 2001 trial when asked about Sernas’ shooting. “I was scared.”
He said he didn’t want to give police the impression that he was running from them, but said Zatarain ordered him to turn off the vehicle’s headlights and to “Drive, don’t stop!” when Zatarain got back into the vehicle after Sernas’ shooting. He said he was afraid of being shot by either the police or Zatarain.
Mares also contended that there was a third person in the vehicle at the time of the confrontation with Sernas and his friend, whom prosecutors said were not gang members.
Mares ran from the Honda after the initial round of gunfire from Zatarain toward the police officers near what was then called the Fox Hills Mall, pushed his way into an occupied taxi and led police on a chase to Los Angeles International Airport, where he crashed the vehicle, pointed an object that was later determined to be a glove and demanded that the officers shoot him, according to a 2003 appellate court panel’s ruling that had upheld his conviction for both of the killings. Mares was shot several times in the head, shoulder, back and leg.