Lynn police detective, sergeant testify in gang-related murder trial

SALEM – A Lynn detective took the stand Thursday in the trial of Jose Cabrera, saying that Cabrera had earlier admitted to him that he was a gang member.Cabrera is currently on trial in Salem Superior Court, charged with the shooting death of a rival gang member on Halloween night of 2008.Lynn police detective Oren Wright, a member of the Gang Unit, testified that Cabrera told him he was a gang member approximately two years before the fatal shooting of Tony Pich, 22, who was killed with a single bullet in front of his 1-3 Olive St. home in the early hours of Nov. 1, 2008.Wright recalled that acknowledgement occurred at the Teen Center.”I was basically giving him a hard time, telling him to go to school and stop being in a gang,” Wright said.”What specifically were his words about being a (gang) member and what did he say?” asked Assistant District Attorney Kristen R. Buxton.”I remember specifically him saying that Soldier (stuff). I told him he had to stop. He was a good basketball player. He acknowledged by nodding and saying, ‘Yeah,'” recalled Wright.The Soldiers gang referred to a junior version of the Deuce Boyz gang.Wright went on to explain to the 16-member jury panel that part of his job was trying to lure troubled youths in the city away from gangs.Cabrera, just 18 when the Pich shooting occurred, participated in a basketball team sponsored by Straight Ahead Ministries. Straight Ahead works with police and troubled teens to try and resolve their differences.On cross-examination by defense lawyer Jeffrey T. Karp, the detective acknowledged that he has had a lot of interaction with Cabrera and that he was “always a gentleman” when he talked to him.Lynn Police Sgt. Edward J. Nardone also testified. Nardone identified Cabrera as a passenger in a silver Kia he pulled over in October 2008 but also said he never saw Cabrera in that specific vehicle again.Nardone explained that he was involved in an Oct. 29, 2008 group meeting with Straight Ahead Ministries in which Cabrera, identified at the time as a member of the Deuce Boyz/Soldiers gang and as a representative member of the AKC (Avenue King Crips), had met just days before the Pich shooting with the pastor and police to mediate and try to squash gang violence in the city.Cheimy Fernandez of Lynn also took the stand, saying he had rented a motel room at the Motel 6 in Peabody between Nov. 1 and Nov. 5 for Cabrera, but insisted that he had made reservations there before when parties were held.The trial continues this morning when the commonwealth may rest its theory of the case.Karp will then present his evidence on the theory that the commonwealth has misidentified his client as the shooter and has charged the wrong person. The jury is expected to get the case sometime next week.Cabrera, now 20, has pleaded innocent to the charge of first-degree murder. A conviction would put him behind bars for the rest of his life.