Former Fugitive Convicted of Killing 12-Year-Old Boy

Former Fugitive Convicted
of Killing 12-Year-Old Boy

August 1, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Joe Scott, Director of Communications
Sandi Gibbons, Public Information Officer
Jane Robison, News Secretary
Shiara Dávila, Assistant PIO
(213) 974-3525

LOS ANGELES – A man who fled to Mexico for nearly a decade and was extradited last year to stand trial was convicted today of murder for the 1998 drive-by shooting of 12-year-old Steven Morales.

Jurors deliberated for an hour and a half before finding Alvaro Luna Jara, 28, of Los Angeles guilty of murder and guilty of three counts of attempted murder. The jury also found true the special circumstance allegation of shooting from a vehicle and found true gang and personal gun-use allegations.

“This verdict today secures long overdue justice for the Morales family,” District Attorney Steve Cooley said. “I’m proud of the tireless efforts of the District Attorney’s Office in securing Jara’s return to this country for prosecution. I appreciate the cooperation of Mexican authorities in helping us locate and extradite those who have committed murder in this country and then fled to Mexico.”

Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee of the Hardcore Gang Division, who prosecuted the case, said Jara was ordered back for sentencing on Sept. 16. The defendant faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli presided over the trial.

Jara fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution after shooting Steven Morales. The boy was shot and killed around 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 29, 1998, when he was playing with several other children in front of an apartment building in the 200 block of South Avenue 58. It was a drive-by shooting and the intended victims apparently were members of a rival street gang who were adjacent to where the children were playing.

Two to five rounds were fired at the Avenues gang members near the children, authorities said. Steven was hit in the head and collapsed in the apartment building driveway. He died a day later.

Although Jara is a U.S. citizen, Mexican authorities twice refused to deport him – once in 2001 and again in 2004. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office aggressively sought Jara’s extradition after the Mexican Supreme Court reversed an earlier decision and ruled in November 2005 that criminal suspects facing life in prison sentences could be extradited from Mexico for prosecution.

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To learn more about this case, visit EscapingJustice.com.

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