Accused gunman has trial postponed until next month
LAX COURTHOUSE — A suspected gang member charged with the attempted murder of two undercover Santa Monica Police officers will not stand trial until late October after his attorney filed a motion asking for more time to prepare a defense.
The trial of Michael German Espindola, 21, a resident of Santa Monica, was supposed to begin Tuesday, however, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader granted the motion to postpone the proceedings. Mader set a trial date for Oct. 25, according to a court clerk.
Espindola has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm, one count of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and one count of unlawful firearm activity.
In addition, the complaint against Espindola alleges the attempted murder was to further the activities of a criminal street gang and that Espindola personally discharged a handgun. He has been held on $2.4 million bail.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The shooting occurred on Feb. 2 at about 5 a.m. near the corner of 20th Street and Pico Boulevard. Officers immediately sealed off the area and conducted a search, locating the suspects in an apartment building in the 1900 block of 17th Street near Santa Monica College. The department’s SWAT team was deployed and negotiated the surrender of the suspects at approximately 6:15 a.m., police said. Officer Walter Ramirez, a 4-year-veteran of the department, suffered a “through and through” wound to his right wrist, and was transported to UCLA Medical Center where we was treated and released.
Shortly before the shooting, the suspects were observed acting suspiciously in the parking lot of the Ralph’s grocery store at 1600 Cloverfield Boulevard.
Officers in a marked patrol car notified Ramirez and his partner, who were in an undercover unit assigned to burglary suppression. The two observed the suspects drive off in a blue van and proceeded to follow them at a distance of roughly two blocks, police said.
The officers lost site of the suspects’ van around 18th Street and Pico Boulevard. As the officers drove south on 17th Street,they noticed the van parked in a driveway.As Ramirez drove closer, a suspect, believed to be Espindola, jumped from the passenger side of the van, raised a weapon and fired three rounds, one striking Ramirez in the right wrist as he tried to drive away from the scene, police said.
His partner “saw the suspect raise his arm holding a firearm,” said former SMPD Chief James T. Butts hours after the incident. “He yelled ‘gun, gun.’”
As Ramirez drove forward, one shot was fired. The second shot went through the passenger side window and struck Ramirez. A third shot shattered the right rear window.
The officers did not return fire, Butts said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 27, 2006. Read the original PDF.