OAKLAND — Alameda County prosecutors dismissed the murder case against a San Leandro man about a year after conflicting stories by eyewitnesses gave rise to a potential self-defense theory, court records show.
Anthony Ortega, 27, was charged in 2023 with murder in the death of 23-year-old Juan Garcia Salazar Jr., a resident of Richmond and Stockton, over what started as an argument about a car blocking the roadway, according to court records. Prosecutors cited “insufficient evidence” when they formally moved to throw out the case.
Ortega posted $500,000 bail in May 2023 and was free for almost the entire duration of the case.
The dismissal occurred last January but hasn’t been previously reported. At Ortega’s 2024 preliminary hearing, Judge Mark McCannon said there were “credibility issues” with prosecution and defense witnesses and that he believed a jury should have the final say.
“I truly didn’t believe your witnesses,” McCannon said to Ortega’s lawyer, but then added, “Just like the prosecution’s witnesses. I found issues with all of the testimony.”
Salazar was fatally shot just before 3 a.m. March 26, 2023 in the 3300 block of 13th Avenue, just south of Interstate 580. A woman with Salazar told police that he bought marijuana from someone in a large group of people which included Ortega, and then she casually mentioned she had dated Ortega, causing Salazar to become enraged, according to court records.
She added that she didn’t think Salazar was jealous, though the defense tried to raise that issue, and highlighted that Salazar had three pending cases for domestic violence, assault in the Richmond jail, and pimping at the time of his death.
One of the defense witnesses testified that Salazar came out of the vehicle threatening the group and someone told him that they didn’t want problems.
“That’s when things kept escalating and he started saying how he had shells for every single one of us and that he was gonna kill us,” the defense witness said.
A prosecution eyewitness — a man who was in the car with Salazar and the woman — testified he didn’t hear any threats, but admitted the door to the car was closed and he couldn’t hear anything. Police said Salazar had a loaded gun in his fanny pack, but there was no evidence he pulled it out.
“The defendant was the only member of the group who shot the victim … he shot the victim five times,” Deputy District Attorney Laura Anderson argued at the preliminary hearing. “Four of those five shots actually hit (Salazar).”
Assistant Public Defender Sue Ra, who represented Ortega, argued that the “terrible situation” was caused by Salazar’s aggressive behavior and escalation.
“All those watching Juan believed Juan was going to shoot someone and it was in this moment that Anthony acted in self-defense,” Ra said at the hearing.
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