Two Hollywood men who spent nearly four months in a Los Angeles County jail walked out free Friday night after a murder case against them was dropped.
Jordy Ochoa and Aaron Smith, both 20, had been charged with murder and attempted murder in a drive-by gang shooting in April that left one man dead and another injured.
"This matter is dismissed in the interest of justice," Superior Court Commissioner Henry J. Hall said Friday afternoon, prompting applause by family members sitting in the courtroom.
The men, still wearing their blue jumpsuits, left the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles about 6:30 p.m. Relatives yelled, clapped and rushed toward them.
"I feel like a million bucks," said Smith, his arms wrapped around his mother. "I knew I was wrongfully accused. I just had to wait it out."
Ochoa, who held his 1-year-old son, said he felt relieved.
"All this stress is gone," he said. "It's finally over."
Heriberto Osorio, 19, was killed on North Oxford Avenue in Hollywood early on the morning of April 20. Police arrested Ochoa and Smith about an hour after the shooting, and prosecutors filed charges a few days later. If convicted, they could have faced life in prison.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Schneider said the men matched the physical description given by witnesses and were in the immediate area of the shooting shortly after it occurred. Witnesses also identified both men in a field show-up, singling out Ochoa as the gunman. Both men had prior criminal records and police believe at least one had gang affiliations. They both are construction workers.
Ochoa and Smith denied any involvement and told police that they were at a nearby McDonald's restaurant at the time.
Despite the arrests, Los Angeles police detectives discovered the possible involvement of other individuals in the shooting, Schneider said.
One woman has since been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting, but police are still searching for the gunman.
Schneider, who received the case Monday morning because a colleague had unresolved questions and was starting a different trial, spent the week reviewing the investigative reports and defendants' statements, talking to the detectives and defense attorneys and watching surveillance video from the McDonald's.
Prosecutors realized that the clock on the McDonald's camera was incorrect and that a van Ochoa and Smith said they were driving was at the fast-food restaurant just minutes after the shooting.
