Wilfredo Reyes, the possible second suspect in a 2008 triple homicide, will soon be in California to face murder charges. The sheriff's office in Rowan County, N.C., where Reyes was arrested last week, announced today that the alleged MS-13 gang member is not fighting the extradition, the Chronicle first reported.
Reyes, 31, had fled San Francisco soon after Tony Bologna and two of his sons were killed as they drove to their Excelsior home. The sole survivor of the shooting, Bologna's son Andrew, testified that the shooter was Edwin Ramos, the driver of a passing car. Ramos, while admitting that he was in the driver's seat, claimed that the real trigger man was Reyes, shooting from the passenger's seat. The jury disagreed, and Ramos was convicted of the murders.
Police did not question Reyes, nor did they issue arrest or material witness warrants for him. The District Attorney's office has said that it did not want to pursue a case against Reyes without evidence beyond Ramos' accusation. Authorities finally issued an arrest warrant against Reyes in March, after a witness in Ramos' trail testified that Reyes told her that he went to the East Coast because he was a passenger during a drive-by shooting.
"[Reyes] is a co-conspirator, aider and abetter, and equally guilty for the senseless crimes committed against the Bologna family," said Assistant District Attorney Alex Bastian. "The question with prosecuting him, however, was whether we could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, independent of Edwin Ramos' self-serving statements. We obtained that information this year and acted on it immediately."
In trial, Ramos, 25, claimed that Reyes misidentified one of the Bolognas as a rival Norteño gang member. He said that he didn't expect Reyes to shoot them.
About a month before Reyes was arrested in North Carolina, Ramos was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
If Reyes decided to fight extradition, Gov. Jerry Brown would have had to ask North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue to send Reyes back to California.
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