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More from Local NewsRodolfo "Rudy" Sandoval was acting in self-defense when he fired two shotgun blasts at a Ventura resident in 2004, Sandoval's lawyer, Chris Darden, said Thursday.
"This is not a premeditated killing. This is not first-degree murder. It is voluntary manslaughter," Darden told jurors during closing arguments in Sandoval's trial.
Sandoval is on trial for the murder of Ryan Briner on May 5, 2004. Briner, 26, died about 11:25 p.m. only a few feet away from his parents' Wolverine Street home near Ramelli Avenue in Ventura.
Sandoval is facing life without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of first-degree murder and if jurors find that he committed the murder for the benefit of a Ventura criminal street gang.
Jurors received the case late Thursday afternoon.
During the trial, Darden didn't put any witnesses on the stand. He declined to make opening statements at the start of the trial. But during the trial, as seven prosecution witnesses testified, Darden tried to discredit and poke holes in the testimony of some of those witnesses.
Darden disputed that his client shot Briner or was at the crime scene. However, he said that if jurors accept the testimony of a Ventura County sheriff's deputy, then Sandoval was acting in self-defense. The deputy testified that Sandoval told him he shot Briner.
The alleged confession was made at a hospital where Sandoval was treated after he tried to commit suicide, according to officials.
The deputy's testimony is a key piece of evidence in the trial because an earlier confession that Sandoval allegedly made to detectives was thrown out. Before the trial, the judge said Sandoval made it clear that he wanted to talk to a lawyer, and police should have stopped questioning him about the murder.
Aside from witness testimony, prosecutors also had hundreds of hours of monitored conversations where Sandoval is talking to co-defendant Javier Acevedo and others about the killing and other issues.
Briner was returning from a convenience store after buying a pack of cigarettes, according to court testimony. Sandoval and Acevedo were hunting for rival gang members to earn "respect" for their gang, prosecutors say. They confronted Briner.
Darden said Sandoval got out of the car after Briner and Acevedo had a confrontation. Sandoval thought Briner had a knife and shot him, Darden told jurors.
"He doesn't lose the right to defend his own life," Darden said. "Nothing says, I get out of the car, and I have to die.'"
Darden said the autopsy showed that Briner had methamphetamine in his system and a blood-alcohol level of .24 percent.
"Three times the legal limit," Darden told jurors. "If you've got to defend yourself, now is the time to do it. There is no second chance."
Darden argued that the killing wasn't for the benefit of a Ventura criminal gang.
Prosecutor Cheryl Temple described Sandoval as a hardcore gang member who was still calling the shots for the gang from the County Jail after the killing. She said he was a coward who killed an innocent and unarmed person who didn't back away when Sandoval and Acevedo confronted him.
"He didn't back down from those two idiots. He stood up to them," Temple told jurors.
Sandoval fired the shotgun from three to five feet away and hit Briner in the chest, she said. Sandoval pumped the shotgun again as Briner tried to push himself up with blood spilling everywhere, Temple told jurors.
"As he tries to get away, he gets shot in the back. Ryan Briner keeps running. He tried to get away. There is no way this is a self-defense. No way," Temple said, noting that his mother, Linda Briner, ran outside and found her son.
"How do you drive away from a man in that condition and laugh as you drive by his mother if you didn't mean for that to happen?" Temple asked jurors.
She said the defendants fled and left behind one shotgun shell, a dead man, and a baffled Police Department and distraught family.
Posted by lrgvanman on December 14, 2007 at 6:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That went beyond the point of defending himself after the shot to the back. I hope this jerk and his accomplice get what they deserve.
Posted by it_engineer on December 14, 2007 at 7:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
To laugh as they drove past the victim's poor mother...pure evil.
Posted by RC on December 14, 2007 at 8:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This makes me so angry.Let Sandoval die and rot in hell
Posted by at8man on December 14, 2007 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Darden said the autopsy showed that Briner had methamphetamine in his system and a blood-alcohol level of .24 percent".
If this is true(which I don't believe)Ryan wouldn't be able to do anything because he would have been stumbling drunk.
Strap the scumbag Sandoval to a table and inject him with a lethal dose of drugs. The Briner's deserve justice!
Posted by bill on December 14, 2007 at 8:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Chris Darden is continuing to prove what a worthless attorney he is... first he helped lose the OJ case and now defending a scumbag gang member like this vermon. What kind of BS is this "Darden disputed that his client shot Briner or was at the crime scene"... but if the jury believes he did it then it was self defense!
These gang members are a cancer on society and because of attorneys like Darden they continue to spread and grow. Doctors strive to kill off cancer cells in our body because the cancer will eventually kill us. We need to do the same with the gangs.
Posted by FedUp on December 14, 2007 at 8:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Darden is a joke of an attorney. no wonder OJ is still looking for the real killers...
and shooting someone in the back is not self defense. that is a cowardly act. but then again, gang members are not known for being the bravest souls in their community.
Posted by Equitable_Enforcer on December 14, 2007 at 9:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Whether or not Briner had meth and alcohol in his system should not be a factor in this case. It is like blaming a rape victim for being raped. Meth and alcohol are a problem in our society, but that is not the issue here.
Sandoval and Acevedo shot Briner in a residential neighborhood only minutes where some of us live. That concerns me greatly.
Also, too close for comfort, shots were once again fired in Cabrillo Village, off of Saticoy Avenue, only yesterday. According to a radio news broadcast heard this morning, a victim reported that his/her windshield had been hit but that the victim departed the scene prior to arrival of VCSD and VPD officers. A VCSD helicopter in the area was used in the search for the perps.
Regardless of where you live, gang activity is all around you. Lets take back the neighborhoods. If you are able, volunteer your time. Police agencies and the office of the DA have volunteer opportunities or can suggest where you can volunteer to make a difference.
Posted by FedUp on December 14, 2007 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
CCW's would help. :)
Posted by RC on December 14, 2007 at 11:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
TimeArrow..I agree. Why do they have to drag Briner's name through the mud and mention his alcohol and drug use? He has passed on and was the victim!
Posted by ironwoman on December 15, 2007 at 2:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I used to like Chris Darden but he must have lost his integrity somewhere along the road. What do you mean that he "thought" Briner had a knife. Okay, that's a lame excuse. The victim's family doesn't deserve to hear negative things about their son. That is terrible. Have some integrity and stop re-victimizing the family. I am disgusted by lawyer tactics.
Posted by AnnaWhaat on December 15, 2007 at 5:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
RC , I agree! Why bring up the Victim and try to make him look bad. He is the VICTIM here!!!!!
And if he was drinking he had enough sense to walk to the store instead of drive.......
Posted by moondoggie on December 15, 2007 at 7:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh knock it off, loud mouths. Darden is doing his job just like the judge and prosecutor. It is only in the old west and Iran that people were/are hanged in the town square. The system usually works. The guilty usually get convicted and harshly punished. To attack Darden is a disgrace. Only scum would attack the attorney for doing his job.
Posted by jjunior on December 19, 2007 at 7:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
moondoggie,Darden may have been doing his job, but I can tell you as one of the jurors, Darden threw up a"hail mary" of a defense and did his best to scuew the facts
Posted by spyhard1234 on December 20, 2007 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
darden is a good lawyer, everyone who criticize him is like asking him not to do his job. I hope he would have won.
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