Nearly five months after a hopeless deadlock sparked a mistrial, two young men accused of murdering a sleeping 22-year-old Pacifica man once again have their fate in the hands of jurors who all involved hope can deliver a different outcome.
The jury will receive the case of Tito Sedeno and John Navarro today, after final closing arguments from the defense and the prosecution rebuttal. Arguments began yesterday morning, exactly 32 months after Raymond Gardner died from a single shot to the back of the head. The panel now must weigh weeks of evidence and a day of conflicting closing arguments to decide if the San Francisco men are guilty of murdering Gardner, attempting to murder his three friends and recklessly evading police during a high-speed pursuit throughout the Bay Area.
On Jan. 12, 2003, Gardner was sleeping in the passenger seat of a friend's car as they and two others in another vehicle drove home from San Jose. On Interstate 380, they encountered a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Sedeno and carrying Navarro and Richard Sedillo. The three men were coming from a birthday party in San Francisco.
Gardner's driver honked as he tried to pass the weaving SUV which sparked a hail of bullets, one which passed through the passenger headrest into Gardner. Daly City police arrested the defendants and Sedillo hours later after spotting them at a Denny's restaurant and chasing them at high speeds throughout the Bay Area into San Francisco.
No weapons were ever recovered but more than a dozen casings were found in the car and on the road. During the trial, defense attorneys questioned if the bullets are specifically linked to the shooting.
Authorities released Sedillo after he fingered the other two as the shooters.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
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Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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