Olive Street Murder Case Resumes
Witnesses from Gang-Related Murder Called to Trial
The Olive Street Murder case resumed on Monday, January 4, continuing examination of the death of 23-year-old gang member Kelly Hunt in February 2013.
Witnesses David Ybarra and Javier Lopez, half-brother of defendant Isaac Jimenez, were brought to the stand last Monday. Both witnesses had several interactions with defendants Jimenez and Joseph Castro prior to Hunt’s murder on February 19, 2013 and were asked questions regarding their relationships with Santa Barbara gangs.
Castro’s defense attorney Michael Hanley began questioning by presenting various images from Lopez’s Facebook and asking Lopez about the time and nature of the pictures. Included in the evidence were several “selfies” of a gun-toting Lopez. Lopez claimed he did not remember most of the pictures due to the effects of “time and pills,” but he was able to describe the guns pictured, although saying he never purchased a gun himself. Lopez said Jimenez had, however, purchased a gun before and would often “show off” his guns. Multiple times during questioning, Lopez said the influence of Xanax and marijuana had fogged up his memory and caused him to be “loopy” in 2013.
