A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued orders Monday for two witnesses to testify in a Newhall double-murder case, under threat of arrest, seeking information families have waited on for more than two years.
Judge Pamela Usher ordered a pair of what are referred to as “body attachments,” essentially an order for two women to appear and give their testimony, according to a prosecutor speaking on background.
One of the women showed up for a hearing last week, but the other did not, requiring prosecutors to continue the proceedings to Monday. On Monday, neither woman showed, according to the minute orders for the proceedings. They are identified only by their first names in court records.
Prosecutors are requiring them to testify for the preliminary hearing in the case against Anthony Ernesto Martinez Ortiz, charged with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Brian Chevez, 25, and Cameron Stokes, 16, by the community pool at The Village apartment in Newhall.
Back in 2023, LASD Homicide Bureau Lt. Hugo Reynaga said Chevez and Stokes were shot multiple times in the upper torso while at a pool in the center of the complex in front of children sitting in a nearby hot tub. Investigators believe the shooting to be gang-related.
Witnesses at the time reported seeing a man who “reached over the fence and started unloading his firearm.”
Both the adult and then-juvenile suspects were arrested within days of the murders, according to homicide officials.
The preliminary hearing is only the first step in a potential trial. At the hearing, a judge hears the prosecution’s case, any affirmative defense, and then determines whether there’s enough potential evidence to prove guilt at a trial.
The broad-daylight murder just before 11 a.m. March 18, 2023, renewed fears in a neighborhood that’s long seen and since witnessed gang violence. Law enforcement officials have acknowledged that community fear is part of the problem in stemming these ongoing incidents and bringing accountability to suspects who ended up being charged.
The shooting murders came just one week after a fatal stabbing outside Dooly’s Liquor store, which is about 1.5 miles away on 14th Street. Homicide Bureau officials have declined to share a possible motive in Eduardo Rosario Becerril’s murder and indicated that they believe other suspects could have been involved.
The chance of a similar outcome could be worrisome to law enforcement.
Stephen Castro, a Canyon Country man, was arrested on suspicion of murder by Homicide Bureau detectives and a murder charge was filed by the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office for the March 11, 2023, stabbing. Castro, whose arrest was announced the day after the stabbing, is identified in numerous search warrant requests as a suspected local gang member.
After more than a year of continuances, he never faced trial. A spokeswoman confirmed the case was dropped in January. No other arrests have been announced.
“The case was dismissed because the prosecution was unable to proceed due to a witness not appearing,” according to an email from Venusse Dunn, spokeswoman for the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, “and in reviewing the evidence it was determined that the case/charge could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The case against Martinez Ortiz also has a co-defendant, a man named Stephen Rosas, who was 16 at the time of the murder.
The DA’s Office confirmed in October that Rosas’ case was ordered for a transfer hearing, but no update was immediately available Tuesday.
In a sweeping operation earlier this year, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station investigators targeted gang violence in a series of raids that resulted in eight arrests.
