An L.A. County Superior Court judge Thursday set an August trial schedule for the two men held to answer for the June 2024 shooting death of a Newhall man outside of Valencia Liquor on Lyons Avenue.
Omar Garcia Ramirez and Jose Corona Duarte are both facing a charge alleging they’re responsible for the murder of 31-year-old Fernando Bernabe, who lived in Newhall.
During their preliminary hearing, the prosecution fingered Ramirez as the shooter, based on surveillance footage collected by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies.
During the preliminary hearing in March, sheriff’s detectives shared their observations from surveillance footage of the incident captured on nearby security cameras, which they said showed the confrontation and shooting that happened around 11 p.m. June 16, 2024.
Speculation for the actual motive remains, as Sheriff’s Department investigators quickly identified Garcia Ramirez as a local gang member with the alias “Daffy”; however, friends and family have said Bernabe was not affiliated and he had no criminal record.
Garcia Ramirez was arrested by an LASD fugitive task force less than two weeks after the shooting, according to testimony at the hearing. Custody records indicate Corona Duarte, a Valencia barber, was arrested the following month by patrol deputies with the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
Both have been in custody since their respective arrests in 2024.
Testimony from the preliminary hearing included a Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputy who responded to the scene and spoke to the victim’s brother, who was described as hysterical after receiving Bernabe’s last phone call.
It “sounded like his brother was involved in a fight,” according to the testimony.
Corona Duarte’s attorney, Eduardo Rodriguez, argued to the judge that his client should not be charged with murder for his role in a physical fight with Bernabe prior to Garcia Ramirez’s decision to pull out a gun.
The evidence regarding the fight does not show any prior knowledge of an intent to commit murder, necessary for an “aider-or-abettor theory,” he said. “No one beats someone up to kill him. If the plan was to kill him, then the killing would have happened immediately.”
Garcia Ramirez is being represented by Christopher Darden, of O.J. Simpson-trial fame. Garcia Ramirez is being held without bail at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic.
Corona is being charged with one count of first-degree murder, and a handful of rules of court violations regarding the current allegation and allegation that his previous conviction will result in a sentence multiplier if he’s convicted again. He’s being held without bail at Men’s Central Jail in Downtown Los Angeles.
Judge Michaell Terrell, who is set to preside over the murder trial, set a July 27 pretrial hearing, a readiness conference for the following week and Aug. 4 is scheduled to be the first day of jury selection.
The trial is expected to last approximately two and a half weeks, according to Thursday’s minute order.
