NEVEDA - Nugget shooting suspects trial strategy: It was self defense

OFF THE WIRE
Jaclyn O’Malley


Attorneys for rival motorcycle gang members charged in the September deadly melee that occurred on a packed Sparks casino dance floor said Thursday they will argue self-defense at their murder trial.
The three-hour hearing before Washoe District Court Judge Connie Steinheimer had to be continued to July 13 because of a scheduling conflict with defense attorneys.
Attorneys for alleged Hells Angels member Cesar Villagrana and alleged Vagos member Ernesto Gonzalez argued that they wanted their clients to be tried separately because they have mutually exclusive and antagonistic defenses, and that there was no evidence for some of the charges, which include conspiracy to engage in an affray and challenge to a fight resulting in death with the use of a deadly weapon.
The charges also carry a gang enhancement after authorities said the shooting at John Ascuaga’s Nugget occurred to promote their respective motorcycle clubs.
Vagos member Gary Rudnick has already pleaded guilty in the case. He said that he conspired with Gonzalez and other Vagos to fight with Pettigrew and other Hells Angels members.
Gonzalez attorney Christopher Frey said there was no evidence to prove gang affiliation or any agreement to fight.
Gonzalez is accused of firing four bullets into the back of San Jose, Calif., Hells Angels chapter President Jeffrey Pettigrew, who died of his injuries. He is charged with second-degree murder and was also recently additionally charged with open murder in a new theory that alleges he lied in wait to kill Pettigrew in a planned hit.
Gonzalez’s attorney Biray Dogan said Gonzalez acted in the self-defense of others when he shot Pettigrew. He said Pettigrew and Villagrana were stomping and kicking a man lying on the ground while they had their guns out.
“That’s when (Pettigrew) got shot,” he said.
Villagrana had also shot two Vagos members, while Pettigrew had pistol-whipped a man in the face, authorities said.
“Ceasar Villagrana is why my client had to do what he did,” Dogan said, adding that Hells Angels members were the first ones to take out guns, fire shots and wield knives.
“We will try to show that Cesar Villagrana and his associates were the hostile ones, and the aggressors who escalated violence,” Dogan said.
Villagrana is charged in the case as a co-conspirator who prosecutors allege is liable for the outcome of the deadly melee based on his agreement with Pettigrew to fight with the Vagos. Villagrana was acting as Pettigrew’s bodyguard, prosecutors said.
Villagrana attorney Richard Schonfeld said Rudnick had been taunting Pettigrew, who wanted to defuse the situation by having a couple of beers. But the pair got into a fight that caused Pettigrew to punch Rudnick in the face, Schofeld said. He said Pettigrew was Villagrana’s best friend.
“This is a fight, not an agreement to fight,” Schonfeld said. “There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Villagrana engaged in a challenge to a fight. It’s incomprehensible. The state wants so desperately to charge him with murder they are stretching their legal theory to second-degree murder which amounts to be the first-degree murder of his best friend whom he didn’t touch.”
Dogan said he has learned the Hells Angels have put a murder hit out on San Jose Vagos members in an attempt to put a bounty on witnesses in the case. He said this showed how the Hells Angels’ notoriety in criminal activities would adversely affect Gonzalez, whose gang is not as widely known, if they were tried together.
The incident occurred near Trader Dick’s at the Nugget and was caught on video surveillance. The Sept. 6 shooting happened during the Street Vibrations annual motorcycle rally.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Karl Hall said the Vagos were the “green team” and Hells Angels were the “red team,” based on the colors that identifies their gang. He said Pettigrew and Rudnick earlier challenged each other to a fight, and the co-conspirators in the case aided and abetted the men, which resulted in shootings that killed one and wounded two.
“People were shooting up the casino after Jeffrey Pettigrew decided to take on the Vagos,” Hall said. “He knew his buddies were armed and as soon as the fight broke out, they would pull out their guns and start shooting.”
Hall said as the Hells Angels walked over to the bar, the “green team” began forming up. He said Vagos are seen on video surveillance putting on gloves and dropping their drinks as the Hells Angels neared in anticipation of a fight.
Trial is scheduled for Oct. 29.