A stock photo of a gavel.
SANTA CRUZ — A Morgan Hill man awaiting trial in a Watsonville homicide case appeared in court Thursday with two others to face new gang-related attempted murder charges.
Matthew Madriz Alcaraz, 19, and Adrian Ortiz, 23, were each charged with an allegedly gang-related shanking of a 20-year-old fellow inmate on June 26 in the Santa Cruz County Jail. The two face criminal enhancements of causing great bodily injury and participating in street terrorism. Attorneys for the two men delayed entering pleas at their arraignment until July 14. A third codefendant, Leo Rueda, 38, faces charges of gang-related assault with a deadly weapon and a street terrorism enhancement.
Rueda’s arraignment also was continued until next week. The three remain held without bail, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Syda Cogliati ruled.
A judge ruled May 17 that Alcaraz, along with codefendant Erick Deharo, 20, will stand to face trial on a murder charge related to the killing of 18-year-old Feliciano Martinez-Perea. Alcaraz and Deharo are charged with confronting and fatally shooting Martinez-Perea on April 2, 2022, in the courtyard of an apartment complex on the 100 block of Riverside Drive in Watsonville.
Ortiz, wanted on a fugitive from justice warrant out of Missouri, was booked June 20. Previously, Ortiz had been out of custody on probation related to a March 2021 conviction for carrying a concealed weapon, a felony.
Rueda was arrested June 13 after not showing up for his scheduled November sentencing in a separate felony case. According to court records, Rueda had earlier pleaded no contest to felony possession of controlled substances for sale and possession of controlled substances while armed related to a March 2021 case.
Originally published at Jessica York