The stakes were raised Thursday against four men accused in last week's shooting death of a Santa Rosa man with the filing of special circumstance charges that turn their prosecution into a potential death-penalty case.
The four men would face death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole if convicted of murder in the course of a robbery, as the case is currently charged, attorneys said.
The revision filed in court Thursday corrects an earlier clerical error, Deputy Sonoma County District Attorney Juliette Olson said. But it also makes the case more serious and gives leverage to authorities in turning any of the suspects against his co-defendants.
Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook said no decision had been made about which penalty prosecutors would seek.
"As you know this is still a continuing, rapidly evolving investigation," she said. "We follow a death penalty protocol in the office on each case where capital charges are filed, so that takes some time to review the case and come up with a recommendation."
Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Carlos Basurto, who oversees violent crimes investigations, said the gunman in the case is believed to have been Fernando Lopez-Castillo, 25. He was arrested Wednesday at a Hayward motel where he and his girlfriend had stayed for several days.
Unlike the others, he is charged with use of a handgun in the case. He also was arrested on a weapons charge in 2008, Basurto said.
But the four men "were all equally culpable," and arranged to buy marijuana from their victim knowing they intended to take it without paying, Basurto said.
Innvestigators have information that Santa Rosa resident Jose Manuel DeJesus, 33, brought 10 to 20 pounds of processed pot with him when he met the foursome outside a butcher's shop, Carnicer? Contreras, on Todd Road.
DeJesus was shot once in the head in his car, authorities said. No marijuana was found, they said.
Investigators are still looking for the weapon used, Basurto said.
It was not clear if DeJesus knew the men or had experience selling marijuana, Basurto said. He lived with his girlfriend and at least one child, and his family knew nothing about his involvement with pot, Basurto said.
Two suspects - Lopez-Castillo's older brother, Juan Ramon Lopez-Castillo, 28, and Alberto Barraza-Lopez, 33 — were arrested Saturday outside a San Mateo apartment complex.
The elder Lopez-Castillo also had an outstanding arrest warrant for marijuana possession and cultivation charges pending against him from two cases in August 2010, according to court records.
Both he and Barraza-Lopez also have been previously deportated - Barraza-Lopez, multiple times, Basurto said.
A fourth man, Jose Carraballo Mejias, 54, was apprehended Monday during a traffic stop on Farmers Lane and Highway 12 in Santa Rosa, authorities said.
All four men are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and robbery in the case. They are being held without bail.
They are scheduled to enter pleas next Thursday.
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