Man accused of killing infant has case dismissed

Prosecutors initially only charged Zaragoza with the shooting but added Vargas as a defendant in 2014 after he allegedly told investigators he had been in the area of the shooting at the time, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Wagstaffe said prosecutors also had cellphone records corroborating Vargas’ account and said investigators found the gun used in the shooting at Vargas’ house.

Vargas’ defense attorney, Kevin Nowack, argued that Vargas did not in fact make any statements that he was in the area of the shooting and no witnesses identified him as being in the area. Nowack said there was a third suspect identified as being with Zaragoza both at the time shooting and that composite sketches of this third suspect bore a dramatic resemblance to Vargas.

While Wagstaffe acknowledged the presence of the third suspect, he said there was not enough evidence to charge that person in the shooting death of baby Izack.

Judge Jonathan Karesh sided with the defense and dismissed the case, citing his concerns that the cellphone evidence presented by the prosecution covered too wide of an area to reasonably implicate Vargas, Wagstaffe said.

The District Attorney’s Office could potentially renew the case against Vargas if investigators find new evidence, Wagstaffe said. The case against Zaragoza will proceed. He is next due in court on March 11 to set a new jury trial date.

Baby Izack was in the backseat of his parents’ car as they were leaving a baby shower when prosecutors allege that Zaragoza opened fire. Izack’s mother attempted to shield her son from the hail of bullets but Izack was struck in the head and later died in the hospital.

Both parents were wounded but survived the attack.

Despite the judge’s dismissal of charges against Vargas, he will remain in jail pending the outcome of a separate case, Wagstaffe said.

A San Mateo County Grand Jury indicted Vargas in 2014 on murder charges stemming from four murders in East Palo Alto and San Francisco, a freeway shooting in Belmont, a jewelry store robbery, and the manipulation of witnesses, among other allegations, between 2012 and 2013. The grand jury indicted sixteen people in that case, which prosecutors dubbed “Operation Sunny Day.”