DEATH PENALTY SOUGHT AGAINST
EAST SIDE RIVA GANG MEMBER

   RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, July 30, 2008: District Attorney Rod Pacheco announced today that the Riverside County District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty against an East Side Riva gang member who shot and killed a young, 23-year-old African American father of three in the driveway of his home.

   "The East Side Riva gang is alive and well and continues to plague the community by targeting innocent African Americans who call the Eastside home. This was a senseless murder of a young, 23-year-old father of three," Pacheco said. "This violent gang must be stopped," he said.

   Jesse Manzo, a documented East Side Riva gang member, is charged with murder with special circumstances that the crime was committed for the benefit, direction, and association of a criminal street gang.

   Raymond Franklin was shot and killed in the driveway of his home on May 2, 2008. Franklin was a young, 23-year-old African American father of three with another child on the way. He grew up on Riverside's Eastside near Patterson Park in East Side Riva gang territory. Franklin, however, was not a gang member. Rather, he became a mentor who discouraged neighborhood youth from joining gangs and encouraged them to become model citizens. Franklin himself completed school to become a correctional officer.

   The Riverside County District Attorney's Office considers a number of factors when determining whether or not to seek the death penalty. District Attorney Pacheco uses a new procedure created when he took office for considering this most important decision. First, the district attorney personally meets with the victim's family members to consider their concerns and wishes. Next, a panel of top management staff, seasoned prosecutors, who have themselves tried death penalty cases, review the facts and circumstances of the case. Law enforcement officers are also included in the decision making process.

   During this meeting, defense counsel is invited to make a presentation or offer evidence regarding the mitigating factors surrounding the defendant's case. In this particular case, Manzo's attorneys from the Public Defender's Office conducted a presentation outlining the mitigating factors in their client's case. At the conclusion of the meeting, the district attorney ultimately decides whether or not to seek the death penalty.

   "The impact of the loss to Raymond Franklin's family as well as to the community leaves no other choice but to seek the death penalty in this case," Pacheco concluded.