Jury selection starts in Campos case

The victims, Javier Vaca, 21, Jose Alberto Munoz-Lopez, 21, Emilio Alba-Flores, 20, and Roberto Ramos-Guerra, 18, were shot execution style.

Campos and his friend Alfredo Valenzuela, 24, were arrested in Southern California in March of 2002, after investigators traced telephone calls from a cell phone found at the scene.

The prosecution contends that the men were killed over a drug dispute between Vaca and his alleged supplier Jorge "Chico" Hernandez.

Hernandez was reportedly killed in Mexico. A fourth suspect, Lazaro Perez, remains at large.

Campos and Valenzuela allegedly helped Hernandez with his drug business, regularly accompanying him on drug runs, according to prosecutor Al Giannini. On the day of the murders, the men went with Hernandez to commit a robbery and became involved in the violent killings, Giannini contends.

On Sept. 2, jurors convicted Valenzuela of four counts of first-degree murder. In videotaped testimony, Valenzuela admitted being at the crime scene, but denied shooting the men or witnessing the murders.

However, Valenzuela's statements conflicted with jury testimony of his cousin Alvaro Acosta.

Acosta testified during Valenzuela's trial that Valenzuela bragged about fun-filled "road trips" he would take with Hernandez and Campos, who was nicknamed "The O.G.," for Original Gangster.

When Valenzuela returned from the fateful January road trip, he said he saw "The O.G." shoot one of the men, Acosta said.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall, who presided over the Valenzuela trial, agreed to allow Acosta's testimony in the Campos trial, but granted a defense motion prohibiting the use of Campos' nickname.

Hall granted the prosecution motion to admit a telephone call in which the defendant allegedly told his brother to destroy a piece of paper with the words "the plan" and "50,000" written on it. Hall additionally granted the prosecution motion to admit limited expert testimony by a San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force agent about how major drug dealers operate.

If convicted, Campos could face four life sentences in prison.