Ventura County prosecutors are driving an effort to free an Oxnard man they believe was wrongly convicted of murder in Santa Barbara, sparking a dispute between authorities in the neighboring coastal counties.
Efren Cruz, 26, was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the shooting of two men during a gang-related melee in a downtown Santa Barbara parking garage four years ago.
But new evidence uncovered by an Oxnard police detective and investigators at the Ventura County district attorney's office tells a different story.
Last summer, they obtained a secretly taped confession from an Oxnard gang member who they say admits pulling the trigger and letting Cruz take the fall.
Ventura County prosecutors notified their counterparts in Santa Barbara and Cruz's appellate attorney, who filed a petition seeking his release from state prison.
But Santa Barbara prosecutors aren't backing down. They contend that they had enough evidence to convince a jury that Cruz was the triggerman and that nothing they have seen since has persuaded them otherwise.
"Do I think we got the right man? I think the evidence persuaded the jury beyond a reasonable doubt," said Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Jerry Franklin, who is handling the petition filed by Cruz.
The petition, along with stacks of transcripts and declarations prepared by Ventura County authorities, landed on the desk of Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa in late January.
Earlier this month, he issued an order asking prosecutors to tell him why the petition should not be granted. Franklin plans to file a response by April 2.
"I can say this: If everything that is alleged in the petition is true, the petition for writ would be well taken," he said. But he added: "I think there will be a contested hearing, because we believe what is alleged may not be true."
For the inmate's family in Oxnard, the new evidence has given them hope that Cruz, an Army veteran who has exhausted his appeals, could be freed.
"We want to fight, we want justice," said Marisela Toledo, Cruz's aunt. "We just need someone to help us."
The trouble started Jan. 25, 1997, after a confrontation in a nightclub on State Street. According to court records, this is what happened:
Two groups of young men--some linked to a gang in Oxnard, others to a gang in Santa Barbara--exchanged words in the bar and were ordered out separate exits by security.
