Two men carried out a fatal shooting of an acquaintance at a North Long Beach horse stable where they all hung out and later told jailhouse informants it was because of a lover’s quarrel and possibly because the victim owed money, a prosecutor told a jury during closing arguments of their trial Friday, May 24.
Luis Barrios, 56, and Leonel Zapien Martinez, 34, face charges of murder and conspiracy stemming from the Dec. 18, 2021 shooting of 46-year-old Abelardo Ramirez Bonilla, also known as “Tato,” as he left The Ranch, a horse stable near 72nd Street and Atlantic Place.
Attorneys representing both men argued prosecutors hadn’t brought forth enough evidence to prove that either of the men committed the shooting, nor did they show evidence of a plan to kill Bonilla.
Jurors were handed the case Friday afternoon after a trial that lasted more than a week.
A third man, Eleazer Lopez, 36, will be tried separately on the same charges, court records show.
Prosecutor Kenneth Chiu referenced recorded jailhouse statements by Barrios and Martinez that the shooting was planned because Lopez was dating a woman who had broken up with Bonilla months prior and he was jealous that she was still exchanging calls and messages with Bonilla. Martinez also told the informant it might have partly been over money owed to Lopez.
All four men knew one another and hung out at The Ranch, with the woman testifying during trial that Bonilla was often seen hanging out with Barrios and Lopez hung with Martinez, said Jennifer Valdez, Barrios’ public defender. Both Bonilla and Lopez at times lived with Martinez.
The woman testified that she dated Bonilla for two years, Chiu said, but was introduced to Lopez and started dating him while Bonilla was serving time in jail for domestic violence, he said. Bonilla was upset that he would still see his ex-girlfriend at the stables and continued to call and text her, which angered Lopez.
“Suspicion and jealousy grows,” Chiu said. “(Lopez is) checking her calls, he accuses her of lying to him” about still seeing Bonilla.
While it’s not known when the plan was hatched to kill Bonilla, Chiu pointed to recorded jailhouse conversations, surveillance video and text messages indicating the three men were all aware of a plan at least a day prior to the shooting.
Barrios, in a recorded jailhouse conversation, told an informant that he was good friends with Bonilla, but the victim was mad at him at the time for hanging out with Lopez and Martinez, Chiu said. At another point, he told the informant he knew that the other two were planning to kill Bonilla.
Despite their good friendship, Chiu said, Barrios never warned Bonilla of those plans.
Instead, Barrios told the informant he used his brother-in-law’s truck to drive Martinez to the stables, the prosecutor said.
On the night of the murder, Chiu said Barrios drove to the stables just past 7:30 p.m. to see if Bonilla was there. After spotting his SUV, Barrios left, but came back about 15 minutes later and waited for Bonilla to exit the stables.
Bonilla’s SUV is seen on surveillance video driving away from the stables, but then stops just as it gets out of view of the camera. A shout is heard followed by six gunshots three to five seconds later. Chiu told the jury Martinez was the gunman.
Two hours later, officers were pointed to an SUV after a resident said they heard gunshots earlier that night, police said. They found Bonilla slumped forward in the driver’s seat of his SUV with the lights on and the engine running, Chiu said.
The prosecutor showed text messages indicating Lopez wanted Barrios to pick up a gun from him before the murder and return it when he was done.
He also pointed to a portion of Martinez’s jailhouse conversation in which Martinez tells the informant he shot the victim from close range about five or six times. Martinez also admitted that he was given the gun.
“And that fool (Lopez) has the girl of the guy I wasted,” the man prosecutors identify as Martinez told the informant.
However, defense attorneys representing both men said there was no direct evidence to prove their involvement.
Malika Djafar, representing Martinez, told the jury there was no evidence of Martinez firing a gun, much less being in the alley leading into the stables the night of the shooting, nor was there any evidence Martinez was involved in the planning of the shooting.
Djafar argued the evidence showed that Barrios was the shooter and that cell phone data showed Martinez was at home that night.
“There’s no evidence he is in that alley, there’s no evidence there was a second person in the vehicle and no evidence that anyone else drove that truck,” Djafar said. “There’s no DNA, no fingerprints to suggest he ever touched those bullets.”
As for what Martinez told the jailhouse informant, Djafar pointed to inconsistencies in his statements and said he was likely intimidated and confused by the informant.
Barrios’ public defender, Jennifer Valdez, said prosecutors showed no evidence that Barrios ever agreed to a plan to kill Bonilla.
“You have to ask yourself why he would assist in committing a murder over a woman he is not related to and whom his friend still cared about,” Valdez said. “The answer is he didn’t.”
The next day, Barrios showed up at a memorial for Bonilla to hang out, drink with friends and help raise money for his funeral, Valdez said, all indications that he had no intention of killing Bonilla.
However, Chiu countered that Barrios could have gone to the memorial to hear what people were saying or see if any witnesses were around. Barrios never said anything at the memorial about who shot Bonilla, nor did he ever call police.
Instead, Chiu said, Martinez told his landlord the following day that he had shot “Tato.” The landlord called a tip line months after the shooting and told them what he had heard.
Barrios was arrested five days after the shooting, Martinez was arrested more than two months later and Lopez was arrested nine months later, according to arrest records.
Jurors were set to resume deliberating Tuesday.
