JUDGE SET TO RULE ON CHARGES IN '07 SANTA ROSA SLAYING:SOME WITNESSES IN SALUDES SMITH SLAYING HAVE PROVED UNRELIABLE

After sorting out weeks of testimony from several untruthful and unreliable

witnesses, a Sonoma County judge may rule today whether two teenagers charged

in a shooting death from last September should go to trial on murder charges

or whether it was self-defense.

Jesse Morales, 18, and Axel Diaz Higuerida, who turns 18 next month, were

juveniles when Andrew Saludes Smith, 19, was fatally shot Sept. 29 in Santa

Rosa. They are being prosecuted as adults, exposing them to potential life

prison sentences if convicted of murder and gang allegations.

Saludes Smith, known as Buddy, died at an emergency room after being shot

once in the chest with a small-caliber pistol in a 3 a.m. confrontation on a

street near the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Investigators said Morales and Diaz Higuerida have long histories of

involvement with the sureno street gang. They have said the shooting occurred

when the two young men were confronted by Saludes Smith and another young man,

who are suspected of having ties to the norteno gang.

Diaz Higuerida told police that Morales fired once when Saludes Smith

approached them on the street, calling them ''Esses,'' which can be taken as a

gang challenge. He said Saludes Smith pointed a gun first before Morales fired

with a .25-caliber pistol Diaz Higuerida admitted owning.

No guns have been recovered.

Complicating the case, several witnesses -- including friends of the victim

and of the defendants -- admitted on the stand that they lied to police or

misled them. Others testified only after receiving grants of immunity.

Judge Ken Gnoss tossed out a day's testimony from a jailhouse informant who

had been called by prosecutors to testify against the two young men. Gnoss

also determined the testimony of two young women, friends of the defendants,

was so unreliable it shouldn't be admitted.

Friends of the dead man admitted concocting lies about where Saludes Smith

was shot, who he was with and how he got to the hospital. They acknowledged

cleaning up his blood from the scene and paying a woman to remove his bloody

clothes.

None of Saludes Smith's friends called 911 to report the shooting or summon

medical help. Instead, they drove him to the hospital from the shooting on

Citrine Way and then agreed to tell police a fabricated version of what

happened.

Throughout the hearing, some supporters of Saludes Smith have audibly

scoffed at defense attorneys' questions, calling them names under their breath

and cheering sarcastically when their cross-examinations are finished.

Friends of the defendants also admitted lying to police. One young man

testified that he never spoke with detectives about the incident even though

police had a recording of the interview.

An investigator testified that Diaz Higuerida and Morales have been linked

to gangs since age 14. Detective Andrew Riley said Morales was shot and

wounded in 2004 near his residence in an incident involving gang members and

that he was arrested in the stabbing of his brother.

Under the prosecution's theory of aiding and abetting, both young men could

be held legally responsible for a crime -- in this case, murder -- physically

committed by only one of them.