Newsbrief:
Trial
for
California
Narc
Who
Killed
Rudy
Cardenas
Gets
Underway
10/21/05
A California State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement agent went on trial this week for the February 2004 killing of Rodolfo "Rudy" Cardenas. Agent Michael Walker faces voluntary manslaughter charges in the shooting death of the 44-year-old Cardenas, who was gunned down in a downtown San Jose alley -- shot in the back -- as he fled police. The police mistook Cardenas for a parole violator they were attempting to arrest.
Walker and his attorneys are claiming self-defense. Walker claims he thought Cardenas had a gun, but he did not. He was carrying a pocket knife, which was found in his pants pocket. Walker also claimed he though he was pursuing parole violator David Gonzales, who was wanted on a drug violation and whom police considered dangerous. "I fired just as soon as I perceived an imminent threat," Walker told an unusual public grand jury proceeding last summer. The killing of Cardenas, a father of five, came in a joint operation by state narcotics police, parole officers, and San Jose City police. San Jose police criticized the state narcs during the grand jury proceeding and are expected to give similar testimony in the trial. Based on his grand jury statements and arguments on motions filed in the case, Deputy District Attorney Lane Liroff will argue that the drug agents recklessly pursued Cardenas after only glimpsing a photograph of the man they were supposed to be chasing, and that Walker shot Cardenas as he pleaded for his life. "Every step demanding sober caution... was missed," Liroff said during the grand jury hearing. Attorneys for Walker filed a pre-trial motion seeking to present evidence that Cardenas had a "suicide by cop" death wish, but that motion was denied. A pre-trial motion seeking to implicate other agencies in the case was also denied. But a motion seeking to present evidence that Cardenas had a history of low-level drug offenses and was using methamphetamine when he was killed was granted. Prosecutor Liroff didn't think much of the defense motions. "This is all about making the victim worthwhile to kill," he said during heated hearings on the motions. Cardenas' killing outraged elements of the Bay Area Hispanic community, which has led marches and demonstrations demanding justice for him. Cardenas' family, led by daughter Regina Cardenas, 27, has been steadfast in demanding that the police shooter be held accountable. "It affects our entire community. What happened didn't just happen to my dad," she told the San Jose Mercury News this week. The Walker prosecution marks the first time a California state narc has ever been tried for an on-duty killing and the first time in three decades that a police officer in Santa Clara County has been tried for such an offense. Walker faces up to 10 years in prison, plus a possible enhancement for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
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