Trial for Lynn gang murder proceeds

SALEM – The prosecutor in the murder case against gang member Jose Cabrera said the 20-year-old Lynn man ruthlessly gunned down another city man who was trying to get away from the gang life.”Tony Pich was a young man who had begun to turn his life around. He was no longer a street kid. He had a job, a car and a wife. Later that night he would be gunned down in front of his home by a single bullet, killing him at age 22. We will prove without certainty that this defendant (Jose Cabrera) killed Tony Pich,” Assistant District Attorney Kristen R. Buxton told the jury in her opening statement Monday at Salem Superior Court.Buxton told the jury “what you won’t hear ? is a motive for the murder of Tony Pich that will make any sense to you. That is because Tony Pich’s murder was a senseless crime, fueled by hostility and hatred between rival gangs and their members and carried out by Jose Cabrera.””You will learn that the different groups involved were all on a type of high alert,” Buxton stressed to the jury.Cabrera, 20, formerly of 3 Chestnut St., Lynn, is on trial for the shooting death of Tony Pich, 22, at 1-3 Olive St. at around 2:15 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2008.Buxton said it took just one bullet fired from a passing silver Kia driven by Cabrera to kill Pich, ripping through his left side, fracturing his ribs and perforating his vital organs.Buxton said she would also present evidence that Cabrera had possession of a .357 revolver within one month of the murder that was used to kill Pich.He tried to sell the gun for $600 because “it had a body on it,” according to the witness.But Defense lawyer Jeffrey T. Karp said his client had “nothing to do with Tony Pich’s murder.”He also described Cabrera as a father who was moving on with his life and taking a “path of responsibility.””You will hear yes, Cabrera drove that Kia, but others drove it also. This circumstantial evidence is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” Karp emphasized to the jury.William Blundell, 23, a chef formerly of Lynn, now of Haverhill, took the stand for most of the day, answering questions about his involvement with the Avenue King Crip (AKC) gang, the same gang that Pich belonged to.He denied knowing Cabrera, a reported member of the Deuce Boyz gang, saying, “I don’t know him face to face,” even though he had testified at an earlier grand jury hearing that the two had exchanged words in the past.Blundell acknowledged that he knew Cabrera drove a silver Kia and saw it pass by Fayette Street, which borders Olive Street.When Buxton asked him if he saw Cabrera drive by Olive Street that night, Blundell said “I believe he drove by,” but could not say how many times.A 14-year-old Lynn resident, who reportedly was the “look-out” for the AKC gang that night, testified he knew Cabrera and identified him in court.But he did not say he witnessed the killing.The youth will be on cross-examination when the trial resumes on Wednesday morning.