Man to Stand Trial for 2012 Murder in East Oakland

A judge ruled today that prosecutors produced enough evidence to have a man stand trial on a charge that he murdered a father of four in East Oakland two years ago during an apparent robbery.
 
At the end of a preliminary hearing that spanned parts of four days, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allan Hymer ordered 27-year-old Emilio Bibiano to stand trial for three counts of attempted murder for the shooting in the 1600 block of 28th Avenue shortly before 4 a.m. on June 16, 2012, that claimed the life of 34-year-old Augusto Matias.
 
Matias was the father of four young daughters who live with their mother, his widow, in his native Guatemala. Matias' brother and two cousins also were injured in the shooting and at Bibiano's hearing they all identified him as the shooter.
 
The victims all speak Mam, a Mayan language that is spoken in parts of Guatemala, so a Mam interpreter was used during much of Bibiano's hearing.
 
Prosecutor Armando Pastran said that in addition to the three victims, a man who was with Bibiano at the time of the shooting also testified that Bibiano was the shooter. The man testified that Bibiano told him that he planned to rob Matias and the other victims because they were drunk, according to Pastran.
 
Matias and his relatives were continuing a celebration that began with a family member's graduation party the night before, the prosecutor said.
 
Pastran said, "There's no evidence to suggest that the victims were the aggressors in this case." Bibiano's attorney, Frank Karwash, said he thinks the victims' identification of Bibiano as the shooter is questionable because of their "motives, interests and biases" in the case.
 
Karwash also argued that there is insufficient evidence to prove that Bibiano had a specific intent to kill the three surviving victims in the case so he should not be ordered to stand trial on the three counts of attempted murder. But Hymer said he thinks the prosecution proved that Bibiano had a motive to kill the three victims who lived.

—By Bay City News