Prosecutors in the ongoing federal racketeering and murder conspiracy trial of seven alleged members of the violent MS-13 gang in San Francisco turned over the case to defense attorneys after months of arguments yesterday. The seven defendants, who go by threatening nicknames like "Slow Pain", "Psycho", "Spooky" and "Shorty", make up a local sect of the notorious Salvadoran gang known as the 20th Street Clique. The local group is allegedly involved in everything from drug dealing to robbery, extortion and car thefts.

According to a Bay City News courtroom report, defense attorneys have been questioning the FBI's informants inside the gang. At least one of the Feds' informants, Jaime Martinez a former leader of the 20th Street group, admitted to taking part in criminal activity while getting paid with government funds. Defense attorneys also allege that paid informants were pushing gang members to commit crimes, which the trial judge agreed has a "scintilla" of evidence to it. (Sidenote: nice use of "scintilla".)

The case is expected to go to jury in Mid-August.

[BCN/Appeal]
[SFEx]