Murder trial begins in killing of aspiring South Bay defense lawyer

SAN JOSE -- Aspiring lawyer Albert Cobarrubias had long championed criminal defendants falsely accused because of racial profiling.

But in an ironic twist of fate, it was Cobarrubias who would become the victim of racial profiling -- an innocent bystander gunned down by an angry gang member searching for someone on his enemy's turf to shoot, prosecutor David Pandori said Monday.

Cobarrubias, 31, was not a gang member, Pandori said in his opening statement on the first day of alleged killer Michael Frausto's trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court. But the attorney was wearing a black sweatshirt bearing a drawing of a shark in red, the color claimed by Norteno gangs.

"Michael Frausto had a belief he had been stabbed by the VMF (a faction of the Nortenos) and five months later, he sought revenge" by shooting at a group of Latino men who were hanging out playing pool in the East Side neighborhood of Meadow Fair, said Pandori, a veteran gang prosecutor. One of the men at the house was a former gang member.

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JAY LEIDERMAN LAW

VENTURA COUNTY LAWYER WHO DEFENDS MURDER AND MANSLAUGTHTER CASES

 5740 RALSTON ST 300

VENTURA, CALIFORNIA 93003

805-654-0200

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JAY LEIDERMAN IS A FREQUENT GUEST ON TV AND RADIO AND IS OFTEN INTERVIEWED FOR MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS AND BLOGS ABOUT HIS WORK DEFENDING PEOPLE CHARGED WITH CRIMES