No charges filed yet in 2003’s only homicide
The main suspect in Santa Monica’s only homicide is scheduled to make a plea today on an unrelated felony charge. If convicted, Arthur Archuletta will likely spend a significant time in prison, officials said.
Archuletta, 21, of Santa Monica, was charged late last month by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge, a violation of Archuletta’s parole, stems from his Nov. 22 arrest. During a traffic stop at 23rd Street and Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica Police officers found a firearm in the car in which Archuletta was riding.
A recent crime-lab analysis confirmed that Archuletta had knowledge of the gun, which is a violation of his parole, said SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega.
“The analysis found his DNA on the weapon,” Fabrega said. “He was holding it and had knowledge of the weapon and was in possession of it.”
“The analysis found his DNA on the weapon.” — – LT. FRANK FABREGA Santa Monica Police Department
However, the gun is not linked to the Sept. 2 murder of 19-year-old Jalonnie Carter, which Archuletta was arrested for three days later. Carter, whom Archuletta knew, was gunned down in an alley east of 20th Street. Archuletta has not been charged with Carter’s murder, but he remains a suspect in the investigation, which is ongoing, Fabrega said.
Nearly a week after his arrest for second-degree murder, the DA’s office didn’t file the case against Archuletta due to insufficient evidence. However, he remained in jail for a few more weeks on an unrelated parole violation. He was released within a month of his arrest and was living with his mother, Terry Archuletta, at her home in Santa Monica before the November incident. Terry Archuletta maintains that her son is innocent.
Police recently turned the crime-analysis results over to the DA’s office, and the firearm-possession charge was brought against Archuletta, said DA spokeswoman Jane Robison. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Dec. 22 ruled during a preliminary hearing that there was enough evidence against Archuletta to proceed with a trial. Archuletta, who has been in custody since his November arrest, will appear for an arraignment today at the LAX Courthouse.
If convicted, the charge would be Archuletta’s second felony, which carries a stiffer penalty.
“We’re going with this being a second strike, and it would be a longer sentence,” Robison said.
Archuletta had been free for about two months before he became the focus of police. Archuletta, who was first convicted in Marin County in 2002 for attempting to smuggle a controlled substance into a jail, was paroled from a minimum-security prison this past July, according to Russ Heimrich, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 5, 2004. Read the original PDF.