By Estrella Torres
LOS ANGELES, CA – A person accused of being in possession of a gun and ammunition in a public area during an airport screening at LAX had a preliminary hearing here late last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, and the case was set for trial.
A motion to dismiss the charges was brought by the defense on the grounds the accused had no “element of knowledge” of the weapon being inside his bag, but the judge denied that motion.
Deputy Public Defender Joseph E. Markus argued there was “no probable cause” that the accused knew the firearm was in his backpack, and “the element of knowledge was not met.”
The judge disagreed.
According to the court records, the incident took place on April 11, 2023, in lane 12 during screening.
Deputy District Attorney Hannha Elizabeth Evinger called as a witness Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer Christopher Rodriguez, who allegedly discovered the firearm in a backpack through a screening machine.
Officer Rodriguez stated he believed he saw “bullets inside of the gun” and “immediately pushed the suspect button” which allows for any “fictional ticks” that the system may have had projected on the screen. After pressing the button, the image remained the same, proving, said the officer, “it was a real gun.”
A secondary screening followed with the aid of a supervisor. The officer said they couldn’t immediately identify the owner of the weapon, “but as I pulled the bag, the gentlemen started asking questions, stating that it was his bag and wanted more information.” The officer identified the “gentleman” as the accused.
The officer declared they did not notice the accused in line at the airport and the defense showed four photographs to verify the accuracy of the identified ammunition.
During the secondary screening, the officer reiterated the accused was “asking a bunch of questions” and that he remembered him stating, “Oh, that’s for my security, that’s for my security,” referring to the gun. The defense then asked the witness to clarify if he “told the officers” of these remarks, to which the officer affirmed in the positive.
Again, DPD Markus asked, “Are you sure?” and Officer Rodriguez said, “No.”
Officer Rodriguez was asked about his TSA experience and shared that he has been working there for 10 years and is well-trained to identify someone “acting nervous” or “people hiding things.”
DPD Markus then questioned if the officer noticed anything suspicious about the accused before the firearm discovery. Additionally, he asked if the accused was “acting anxious,” “scared” or “doing anything unusual” before the bag examination. To all these questions, the TSA officer later confirmed the accused looked like a “regular passenger,” and didn’t seem “scared,” or doing “anything usual” or “acting anxious.”
The officer did confirm the accused looked “surprised” when they found a gun in their bag.
Officer Rodriguez said the accused asked, “Is something wrong with my bag?” and, “What is wrong with it?” after the gun was found; clarifying some of the vague “bunch of questions” asked by the accused during the incident, as previously testified by Officer Rodriguez.
DPD Markus asked, “Did (the accused) ever say ‘Oh my god I have a gun in my bag,’” and, “Did the accused ever inform you of the gun in the bag” to which the witness responded, “No.”
The second witness called to the stand was Narcotics Detective Daniel Alonzo, who arrived at the LAX airport once the accused had already been detained by two officers. Multiple pictures were taken of the backpack with the firearm inside.
Alonzo stated his partner opened the bag and “unloaded the gun,” which wasn’t “registered in the state of California.”
Referring to the report, “on page 2 of 7 in the first paragraph,” DPD Markus asked: “Is there any statement in this report that includes the words ‘That is for my security,’” to which Alonzo paused for a few moments when asked if the accused said the weapon for his “security,” but then said the accused did not state this.
Detective Alonzo further stipulated that the accused was “not upset,” was “calm” and “fully cooperative” during the investigation.
On these grounds, the defense called for a motion to dismiss charges, arguing, “All the counts made were on assumption that my client had knowledge of the gun. The element of knowledge is not met, so there was no probable cause that my client had knowledge of the firearm in his backpack, given my client’s surprise at the firearm in his bag. There is no evidence of my client sneaking this backpack into the airport.”
DPD Markus asked the court to disregard Officer Rodriguez’s testimony on the possible statement, “That’s for my security” because it was not reflected in the police report, arguing that “my client did not say those things.”
Despite this defense claim, the judge stated she found the testimony of Officer Rodriguez “credible,” and didn’t know “[w]hy the TSA agent would make that up.” Additionally, she claimed “when people are carrying a bag, they usually know what’s inside it, especially in an airport.”
The judge denied the motion to dismiss, and the accused has a new court date of Jan. 26 at 8:30 a.m. to set a trial date.
