Corpus Delicti: Tattoo Leads To Conviction of California Gang Member

ht-mugshot-anthony-garcia-jef-110422-wg-1374180035336-447778-ver10-640-480jpg We previously discussed the curious case of Anthony Garcia, 25, who was arrested after police noticed a tattoo on his chest that depicted an unsolved murder. The corpus delicti or body of evidence in this case is the defendant himself who was convicted yesterday for his role in the 2004 shooting at a Pico Rivera liquor store.


Garcia’s elaborate tattoo caught the eye of an officer in 2008 when he was picked up for driving with a suspended license. He was suspected of being part of the Rivera-13 gang and his tattoos were photographed. Later, Det. Sgt. Kevin Lloyd was looking through a mug book and was struck by what “looked like a murder from way back when.” (That alone is a pretty darned impressive catch). He drove to the store and pulled the old case file.

article-1379651-0BBCB8EA00000578-520_634x342It not only named the store but captured the details of the crime scene with Christmas lights outside the liquor store to the bent light post in the store’s parking lot to the nearby convalescent home. The shooter is portrayed as a “Chopper” (Garcia’s gang nickname) and the victim, John Juarez, is depicted as a peanut (the symbol of the rival gang. To make sure that there is no mystery as to the message, the tattoo features the words “Rivera kills.”

At trial, police introduced testimony that, while behind bars, Garcia confessed to officers posing as gang members.

This rivals the stupidity of writing a popular rap song on your prior unsolved crimes.

Source: Daily Mail

15 thoughts on “Corpus Delicti: Tattoo Leads To Conviction of California Gang Member”

  1. I wonder if he will now get a prison tattoo of him sitting in a cell with a long grey beard and osteoporosis, a broken and forgotten old man?

  2. The smart people write memoirs and have them published posthumously.

  3. “You don’t have to prove their smart, only guilty.” That was the response of a prosecutor I worked for when responding to the boilerplate defense attorney statement, “My client would have to be awfully stupid to have done[fill in the blank].”

    1. All of us are guilty before God. When you think about it a dog a cow etc is not arrested because Satan in the mind of a person cannot give them guilt. A devil in a human gets a high out of giving a human guilt.

  4. “Why not just take out an ad to tell the world that you shot someone?”

    Raff,

    I suspect that is just what he was doing. Pathetically, in his mind this must have been the singular achievement of his life and so he memorialized it on his body.

  5. You have no idea how stupid it is to kill calling it good. Jailing does not teach people to not be stupid. Had they we would have intelligent people not doing what he did.

  6. Stupid is as stupid does. Why not just take out an ad to tell the world that you shot someone? Yikes.

  7. Wasn’t tattoo on Fantasy Island….. Yes, the number one complaint with most criminal defendants…. Stupid….

  8. There looking at AAron Hernandez’s tattoos for gang affiliation too.

  9. This is evidence of evil ignorance with a side of narcissism than plain old stupid.

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