8 March 14th-March 20th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Justice for Angel? 2 men took Angel Reyes for a ride. He ended up in the morgue. BY STEPHEN LEMONS A ngelica Reyes wiped away tears as she sat in a camping chair by the grave of her son, Angel Reyes, who was gunned down in South Phoenix at the age of 19. Reyes, 41, said she visits her son’s plot at Greenwood Cemetery every day. She also tends to a roadside memorial at South 13th Place and East Vineyard Road, where Angel was shot and killed on Nov. 23, 2021, by one of two young men who supposedly prom- ised him a ride to the house of a friend. Angel never made it there. According to police and court records, one of the men asked to see the Glock that Angel carried for protection. Angel evidently knew both men and trusted them. He gave up his weapon, which was then used to shoot him. Police have statements from both men, saying they picked up Angel and that they were present at the site of the homicide. But they point to each other as the shooter. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence and problems with the admissi- bility of the suspects’ statements. The situation infuriates and saddens Angelica Reyes. One of the suspects is walking free; he even showed up for Angel’s funeral before she knew about his involvement in the crime. Both of the suspects flaunted Angel’s gun on social media after the killing, according to police. Reyes doesn’t believe assertions from police and prosecutors that there is little they can do. She fears for her family’s safety. But most of all, she wants justice for Angel. The oldest of her four children, Angel wanted to be an electrician and was working at a local Dairy Queen, saving his money. Reyes was close to her firstborn, and his death shattered her. “I know at least six people who’ve lost their kids to gun violence, to murder,” Reyes said. “It’s like a club you never want to be in, but you’re there.” Angel had been robbed before, which is why he carried the gun. At the time of his death, he’d been couchsurfing. Until he turned 19, Reyes was strict with her son. Then he asserted his young adulthood. “He was just like, ‘Mom, I’m 19 now,’” she recalled, saying Angel would stay with friends for a few days, then come back to live in Reyes’ west Phoenix home. “I would tell him, Angel, if anything ever happens to you, I would lose my mind,” she said. Stuck on a legal technicality According to police and court records, the two suspects — Lister “Slumpy” Gonzalez, 21, and Michael Able Hernandez, 19 — acknowledged they were present when Angel was shot and killed with a single bullet from his own gun. Both men were questioned separately on more than one occasion by Phoenix police. Each time, Gonzalez and Hernandez blamed each other for the shooting. Hernandez, who was 17 at the time of the killing in 2021, was arrested by Phoenix police on July 26, 2022, on suspicion of armed robbery and first-degree murder in connection with Reyes’ killing, according to court records. A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the county jails, said Hernandez was released the next day with no charges being filed. Gonzalez was never arrested in connection with the Reyes slaying. Despite other evidence — including an apology letter written by Hernandez — the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office turned down prosecuting the case, telling Reyes in a form letter that there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.” Reyes said Deputy County Attorney Lou Giaquinto told her in a phone conversation that the admissions by the suspects were inadmissible under the Bruton rule, which refers to a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court deci- sion in Bruton v. United States. In Bruton, the court held that at a joint trial, a defendant’s confession implicating his co-defendant was inadmissible if the defendant was not testifying. Admitting the full confession would violate the co-defendant’s right to confront his or her accuser as enshrined in the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. An MCAO spokesperson, speaking on background to Phoenix New Times, said that since Gonzalez and Hernandez “made implicating statements against each other,” the Bruton rule would apply. The spokesperson added, “The defen- dants couldn’t be tried separately as there was no evidence to point to one defendant over the other. Additionally, even in a sepa- rate trial, the Bruton rule would still apply as their statements would be inadmissible in court.” He pointed out that there is “no statute of limitations on homicide cases,” implying things could change if more evidence comes forth. Reyes understood the Bruton rule because of her work for a local attorneys’ office. But, she wonders, does this mean people can literally get away with murder? “Why can’t they charge them with at least robbery, armed robbery with a deadly weapon?” Reyes said. “Why don’t they charge the one and not the other? I fail to understand how the Bruton rule has that much reach, yet other cases have been tried with far less.” ‘Are you going to do me like that?’ The suspects’ statements are not the only evidence in the case. Phoenix police obtained cell phone records for Angel, Gonzalez and Hernandez and discovered that they exchanged direct messages on the night of the killing. Angel asked for a ride to South Phoenix, and the two men said they would oblige. Questioned while in prison for another offense, Gonzalez initially denied being with the victim. But police told him they obtained GPS records from his phone, placing him at the scene of the | NEWS | >> p 10 Lister Gonzalez, 21, and Michael Able Hernandez, 19, told police they were present at the shooting of Angel Reyes, but they blamed each other for the killing. (Photo courtesy of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office) Price Fixing Arizona sues 9 apartment landlords for ‘immoral’ rent scheme. BY TJ L’HEUREUX A rizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against software company RealPage and nine residential landlords, alleging they engaged in a massive conspiracy to price gouge at least 100,000 renters in Phoenix and Tucson. RealPage sets prices for apartment units based on an algorithm that maxi- mizes profit, according to the lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court. Some 70% of multifamily apart- ment units listed in the Valley are owned, operated or managed by compa- nies that have contracted with RealPage. In Tucson, it’s about 50% of units. “Renters are not dealing with a competitive market,” Mayes told Phoenix New Times at a press confer- ence on Feb. 28. “They are dealing with a monopoly that is engaged in anti- competitive price fixing.” With the use of RealPage software becoming widespread, the free market ceases to be free, fair or transparent, and landlords can effectively conspire to raise prices through the soft- ware’s algorithm, the lawsuit argues. Landlords using RealPage software charged 12% more compared with land- lords who didn’t use it, Mayes’ office estimated. She said that number, based on a sample of 30,000 units, is conservative. The lawsuit makes Arizona the first state in the country to sue RealPage, which Mayes suspects is engaging in the same activities across the country. The attorney general in Washington, D.C., also filed a lawsuit against RealPage and local landlords in November 2023. ‘They knew what they were doing’ The antitrust lawsuit comes as housing costs, evictions and homelessness have skyrocketed in Phoenix since landlord use of RealPage software became more common in 2016. Between 2016 >> p 14 Arizona Attorney Genral Kris Mayes (Photo by TJ L’Heureux)
