Judge: Suspects to be Tried Together in Vallejo Homicide, Torture Case

By Ryan Chalk, The Reporter

Four men currently held behind bars for their alleged involvement in a 2008 torture and homicide case will share the same jury trial in November after a Solano County Superior Court judge ruled their cases be joined.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Donna Stashyn ruled in favor of a motion made by Deputy District Attorney Julie Underwood in which she asked that homicide defendants Tony Damien Diaz of Concord and David Warren Fraire of Vallejo join co-defendants Patrocino Lorenzo Hernandez and Orlando Madueno, both of Vallejo, at trial. Hernandez and Madueno are both charged with homicide and torture.

The four men are among a handful of people originally charged with murder and torture in connection with the Jan. 2, 2008, beating death of 50-year-old Vallejo resident Ricky Meyi at a Vallejo party. His partially burned body was found 11 days later in a ditch near Highway 113 and Hawkins Road, south of Dixon.

On behalf of his client, defense attorney Robert Warshawsky, who represents Fraire, expressed opposition to the motion and labeled it untimely.

"A joint trial to promote judicial efficiency doesn't apply here. These cases have been pending for years," Warshawsky said.

John Coffer, defense attorney for Diaz, echoed Warshawsky's comments, and further argued that it would be prejudicial for his client to stand trial with the three other men, citing disparity between the case against Diaz and that of the other defendants. Coffer argued there was no physical evidence linking his client to the death of Meyi and cited conflicting witness accounts about whether Diaz was ever present during the fight.

Heard a day before two of the defendants were to begin trial, Underwood disputed claims from the defense table that her motion was untimely, and argued delays were also the result of defense attorneys not being available for hearings in the past.

"What we're talking about here is a group that acted together in committing this murder, as a gang," Underwood said.

Stashyn said she considered the burden of having to call already fearful witnesses to testify in separate trials as well as the cost to Solano County in defending the four men when she granted the motion.

While Madueno's defense attorney, Thomas Gill of Vallejo, had no opposition to the motion, Stashyn said her ruling would not prevent the other defense attorneys from filing severance motions on behalf of their clients.

Stashyn set 9 a.m. Nov. 9 for a jury trial in the matter.