Trial begins – July 24, 1996
Found Guilty – July 29, 1996
Sentenced to death – August 1, 1996
Arrived on death row – September 13, 1996

Jury Selection for Tony (Anthony) Medina`s trial began on July 15, 1996. Nine days later, despite the fact that defense attorneys were unprepared and had not conducted even a basic investigation into their clients case, the trial began. It was July 24, 1996.

 The state`s case against Tony (Anthony) Medina centered on  the testimony of 3 individuals, known gangs members, who admitted being present in the car when the crime was committed. The eyewitness accounts from these alleged witnesses: Dominic Holmes, Johnny Valdez, and James Moore, were completely different. All 3 men gave different accounts of the crime, who was where in the car, and even when it happened. The only thing all 3 men agreed on was that Tony Medina was the shooter. Between the 3 men, they gave 11 different statements to police and prosecutors. Mr. Moore, the driver and owner of the car used in the crime, says that as he was following directions thru a un-familiar neighbourhood, Mr. Medina suddenly pulled a semi-automatic rifle he did not know was in his car out and opened fire. Mr. Valdez testified that before they reached the crime scene, Mr. Moore stopped the car so Mr. Medina could change seats with his cousin who had been in the front, and retrieve the rifle from the trunk.

Mr. Leon guy, another witness who was crucial to the D.A.`s case, testified that he was in the drive-way next door to the crime scene when the shooting occurred. In his statement that night to police, Mr. Guy said he saw a dark-colored 4-door car with a “white or Mexican” hand holding a gun shooting. During trial, Mr. Guy changed his statement, and said that he infact saw a LIGHT-GRAY 2-DOOR car involved in the crime. Though he continued to claim he saw a white or Mexican hand, he was Sure that the gun he saw fired was NOT a AK-47. Under questioning by defense lawyers, he admitted that he was “dead drunk” on New Year`s eve and that his memory was better 6 months after the crime then it was that night.

Regina Juarez, a close friend of Dominic Holmes, alledges that Tony Medina returned to the party she was at after the shooting and admitted to her he was responsible for the shooting.

The State`s firearm`s expert, Robert Baldwin, played a video and testified about the effects of the murder weapon. His video showed the jury the damage this weapon would do to phone books and he confirmed that the spent shell-casings found by police at the crime scene came from the semi-auto matic rifle discovered buried and wrapped in plastic. Mr. Guerinot, Tony Medina`s defense attorney, attempted to prove thru questioning of the state`s expert that the crime COULD NOT have been committed as Valdez, Holmes and Moore testified it did. Mr. Baldwin said that he could not make a definite statement without further testing. Though Mr. Guerinot requested the judge order the testing to be done in order to prove this, the judge refused.

The DEFENSE put on 2 witnesses, Domingo Valle and Rene Reyna that testified Dominic Holmes bragged to them and a third friend that he had committed the crime. Alex Perez, Tony`s cousin, told the jury that he was with Tony Medina at their friends party, and that him and Tony never left the part with Holmes and Moore that night.

Tony Medina was the Last person to testify.

He spoke for several hours, telling the jury what happened at the party that night and confirmed that he was not in the car when the crime was committed.

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