The attorney for the getaway driver in the 2011 murder of Jordan Hickey in National City acknowledged to jurors Tuesday that his client drove the car in which a passenger shot Hickey to death.
The question jurors need to answer is whether Juan Ignacio Gomez, 24, had the intent to kill by driving the gunman’s vehicle and if he is guilty of murder, said his attorney, Ricardo Garcia.
The seven man, five woman jury was sworn in Monday for Gomez, who is standing trial first following San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeff Fraser’s ruling on Feb. 5 that Gomez and alleged gunman Humberto “Beto” Galvez, 22, have separate trials.
Deputy District Attorney David Grapilon asked jurors to hold Gomez accountable for his actions in the April 29, 2011, shooting of Hickey, 21, who was pushing his bicycle uphill in the 2800 block of Grove Street at 12:35 a.m. when he was shot three times by a shotgun.
Grapilon showed the .12 gauge shotgun to jurors that was recovered a year after the slaying in which authorities asked the public for information.
Hickey had left his girlfriend’s house and was on his way home to his mother, Jeannine Hickey, in Lincoln Acres.
Grapilon told jurors the case was solved after Rodney Acosta, who was facing a carjacking charge, told authorities that Gomez and Galvez were involved in the murder.
Acosta wore a wire and some of the conversations that were recorded were briefly played to jurors.
Garcia told jurors to consider that Acosta has himself been convicted of manslaughter and is in prison. Acosta pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2013 death of a Chula Vista man. Grapilon told jurors he did not know if Acosta would be available to testify.
Grapilon is expected to seek a first-degree murder conviction against Gomez, who is also charged with conspiracy, attempted robbery and committing a drive-by shooting.
The jury was not told that the DA’s office is seeking the death penalty against Galvez, whose trial is set for April 6.
The jury heard 911 calls that were played in court from several people including a woman who lived nearby. The victim died almost instantly and his backpack and cell phone were found nearby.
Gomez and Galvez are cousins and lived in the same Logan Avenue house when they were arrested March 22, 2012, in Chula Vista. They both remain in jail on $2 million bail and have pleaded not guilty.
