On May 5, 1996 nineteen-year-old Tiffany Rios was gunned down as she sat in Gerardo Fuentes’ car in front of an East Los Angeles apartment complex. Tiffany died immediately as a result of a gunshot wound to her head. Another passenger in the car, thirty-four-year-old David Martinez, was also shot in the head. He was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery. David survived the life threatening head injuries.
The police investigation revealed that Tiffany Rios, David Martinez and Gerardo Fuentes were returning to the apartment complex from the store when a car pulled up beside them. A passenger in the car, twenty-one-year-old Angel Jimenez, leaned out a window and fired into Fuentes’ car. Angel Jimenez, a "Lopez Maravilla" gang member fired into Fuentes’ car in retaliation for an earlier drive-by shooting by "Arizona Maravilla" gang members.
After the shooting, Angel Jimenez, a Mexican national, fled to Mexico. The Mexican government arrested and prosecuted Jimenez for these crimes pursuant to Article IV of the Mexican Constitution. On September 30, 2000 Angel Jimenez was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for the murder of Tiffany Rios and the attempted murders of David Martinez and Gerardo Fuentes. The victims’ families could not observe the trial or give any input at the sentencing. If Jimenez had been prosecuted and convicted in California, he would have been sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment. Thanks to AB1432, California prosecutors will now have the ability to leave the warrant in the system and prosecute the defendant should he ever choose to return to the United States.