By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

March 3, 2002

OAKLAND —Defense attorneys for three men accused of killing an Alameda County sheriff's deputy at a Dublin restaurant have asked a judge to move the upcoming trial out of the area.

Citing multiple news accounts, freeway signs and even a Christmas tree lighting, a lawyer wrote in a motion to change venues that potential jurors have been "saturated" with information about the shooting of John Paul Monego on Dec. 12, 1998.

Pleasanton attorney Harry Traback, who is representing Miguel Galindo Sifuentes, said Tri-Valley residents are reminded daily of the shooting at Outback Steakhouse on Regional Street.

Motorists pass signs on Interstate 680 displaying the Brentwood victim's name, and there is a memorial in his honor at Dublin Civic Plaza as well as an annual tree lighting ceremony, he said.

"Media information has irreparably and substantially prejudiced the defendant's right to a fair trial in Alameda County," Traback said in court papers.

Jurors could further be influenced, Traback pointed out, by the presence of sheriff's deputies, who provide security inside in the courthouse.

"The attorneys can't talk to (jurors), the judge can't talk to them, except from the bench, and here you've got a guy wearing the same uniform as the victim," he said, adding that jurors are left in the care of deputies during the trial. "It's hard to compensate for that kind of prejudice."

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Alfred Delucchi will begin hearing the requests Monday, a process that could take as long as two weeks.

Change-of-venue motions are regularly viewed as long shots and are seldom granted. Evidence that there has been "extensive" news coverage, among other standards, must be met before a judge orders everyone to pack their bags.

Lawyers who asked to have the dog-mauling trial moved from San Francisco were able to point to hundreds of stories that ran in newspapers as far away as Sydney, Australia, and were relayed on national television programs.

Additionally, a Santa Clara judge moved the trial of Cary Stayner, a motel handyman accused of killing three people near Yosemite from Mariposa County after becoming aware of about 1,000 media accounts of the case.

The Monego case, in contrast, has been retold in about 50 mostly local newspaper stories.

Traback said he puts better odds on a motion to suppress a statement Sifuentes made to investigators after the now 22-year-old man was arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He said in court documents that Sifuentes "did not voluntarily and knowingly waive" his right to have an attorney present during questioning.

Included with the motion was a transcript of Sifuentes' conversation with investigators in which the man repeatedly said he wanted to tell his side of the story but thought he should speak with a public defender first.

"My client asked for an attorney a number of times," he said. "They just continued to try to override that."

The judge will also hear arguments concerning a previously filed motion asking to have taped conversations between Sifuentes and his parents tossed.

Recorded at the jail in the days after he was arrested, Sifuentes acknowledged planning to rob the restaurant, but denied wanting to kill anyone.

Sifuentes and Hai Minh Le, 23, both of Turlock; and Reuben Eliceo Vasquez, 26, of Modesto, are each charged with a single murder count. Prosecutors contend Monego, 33, was killed during a robbery, a special circumstance allowing them to seek the death penalty.

The county deputy district attorney leading the case could not be reached for comment.

About 10 other motions, including one to separate the defendants' trials and another asking that prosecutors be barred from seeking the death penalty, are also up for consideration.

The trial could begin this summer.