Two families, community are waiting for answers
Nearly three months after Santa Monica’s first homicide of the year, residents of this eastside neighborhood where 19-year-old Jalonnie Carter was gunned down are still waiting for justice.
Santa Monica Police detectives said evidence from the 20th Street shooting links a neighbor and former schoolmate of Carter’s to the fatal shooting. But community members are accusing police of not being diligent in resolving the case.
SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said detectives are working on the case but said murder investigations take time, especially when there is a lot of evidence to analyze.
Three days after Carter’s heart was fatally struck by a.22-caliber bullet shot through his back on Sept. 2, police arrested Arthur Archuletta, 21, and booked him for second-degree murder. But prosecutors decided not to pursue charges against Archuletta, saying there was insufficient evidence. He was released from jail less than a month later. During the month he was in custody, Archuletta was being held on an unknown parole violation.
Now back at home with his parents and siblings, Archuletta is in constant danger because of the arrest, his mother, Terry Archuletta said. Archuletta and Carter lived just a few blocks from one another in the Pico neighborhood.
“He was falsely arrested. It was very unfair. The person that committed this murder, this is an act of a coward, and he’s walking out there free,” she said, adding that her son had to drop an educational course he was attending because the family didn’t think it was safe for him anymore.
“I almost lost my son Arthur because the police were trying to pin Jalonnie’s murder on him,” Terry Archuletta said. “This would mean that he would be in prison for the rest of his young life, or worse. I hope and pray that the police department does their job, and finds the murderer...
“Or else my son and my entire family, and (Carter’s mother) Shirley and her family, will never be free from this nightmare,” she added, crying. “My 5-year-old child told me that she was never going to sleep again until her brother Arthur came home.”
Fabrega said Thursday detectives are working especially hard to make sure they have a solid case. Last time police handed over evidence, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office dropped the case.
“I’m trying right now. I’m going to counseling. I don’t even know what’s really going on.” — — SHIRLEY JOSEPH Mother of homicide victim
“You don’t want to rush into something and not be prepared,” he said. “We feel for the family but it’s the court system that we have to work with... We are dealing with the DA, a crime lab and the criminal justice system. It’s not the police department dragging its feet.”
Evidence from the shooting was recently returned from the crime lab and is now with detectives, Fabrega said. He didn’t identify the nature of the evidence and said the investigation is ongoing.
In the meantime, some community leaders said the way police have handled the case have made the situation worse in the Pico neighborhood, where gunfire has frequently erupted this year.
4E1,“Now we have more problems than solutions,” said Oscar de la Torre, director of the Pico Youth and Family Center. “There was a rush to judgment on the police department’s behalf. I guess the outcome of that is there’s no justice. There’s no justice for Jalonnie Carter and his family, and now there is potentially an injustice committed against the family of Arthur Archuletta.
“How would you feel if you were arrested with limited evidence for a homicide and then released back into the same community? That’s a little harsh for a family to go through,” added de la Torre.
Fabrega said the SMPD won’t share information with the suspect’s family regarding the case because of constitutional issues. By doing so, it could jeopardize the outcome of the case, he added.
“We have to be careful in sharing information because it could come up in court,” Fabrega said. “Information can taint criminal proceedings and interfere with justice being served.”
With the investigation approaching its third month, Shirley and Larry Joseph, Carter’s mother and stepfather, are still waiting for answers. They have hired a private attorney to look into the investigation and said they are waiting for some type of closure, but not at an innocent person’s expense.
218,“I’m trying right now,” Shirley Joseph said. “I’m going to counseling. I don’t even know what’s really going on.
“If (Arthur Archuletta) didn’t do it, I’m glad he’s free, because I don’t want an innocent person in jail,” she added. “All I want is justice for the person that did this to my son. That’s what I’m searching for, is justice.”
Shirley Joseph
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 21, 2003. Read the original PDF.