Apr 24, 2008 8:28 pm US/Pacific
Charges Dropped In SF Pizzeria Double Murder Case
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Scene outside a San Francisco pizza parlor following a fatal shooting March 29.
CBS
Prosecutors on Thursday abandoned a double-murder case against a 19-year-old Daly City man in connection with a pair of slayings outside a pizza parlor in San Francisco's Sunset District.
Prosecutors said a key witness now claims that authorities have the wrong man. As a result, Matthew Owyang may be set free after spending more than three weeks in jail.
Jason de la Cruz, 31, and Derek Butch, 23, were shot and killed March 29 outside Irving Pizza where de la Cruz, a manager at a Verizon store, was treating his sales team to a meal. Some witnesses said that a dispute over who in the restaurant was entitled to free pizza may have instigated the violence.
Owyang had been held since his arrest April 1 in connection with the slayings. He pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a murder, and a special circumstances allegation of multiple murders that could have brought a sentence of up to life in prison.
At a preliminary hearing, several friends of Owyang who were in the suspected getaway car testified that Owyang was not the killer.
Prosecutor George Butterworth told Judge Kathleen Kelly Thursday morning that he was "not comfortable" any longer holding Owyang on the charges.
Butterworth said one of the independent witnesses who testified in the hearing later spoke with a homicide inspector and also said Owyang was not the person who fired the gun.
Butterworth added that the preliminary hearing featured vague and conflicting testimony from several eyewitnesss who testified told "dramatically different stories" on the stand than they previously told to homicide inspectors.
Owyang's attorney Bill Fazio said the case was not just one where there was not enough evidence to prove Owyang's guilt, but one "where my client is factually innocent of these charges."
Connie Chan, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said after the hearing that an investigation into the case is continuing.
De la Cruz's mother Carol de la Cruz said outside the courtroom that she and her family were "confident that the police are doing everything they can to find the actual shooter of our son."
De la Cruz described her son, a father of three, as a beloved member of the community.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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