Suspect in Pico Slaying Arrested for Unrelated Gun Charge

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

Nov. 24 -- The suspect arrested two months ago in connection with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Jalonnie D. Carter was arrested this weekend for carrying a concealed weapon. The arrest comes after Arthur Archuletta’s mother said her son was wrongfully accused of murder.

Archulleta was a passenger in a car with three other male Hispanics that was pulled over by police at 1:50 a.m. Sunday morning in the Pico Neighborhood. A gun described as a “small-firearm” was discovered during a search of the vehicle and all four were arrested for possessing a firearm.

While police said Sunday's arrest is not connected to the Carter case, they maintain Archuletta, 21, is the only person suspected of being the unidentified assailant who gunned down Carter with a 22-caliber gun in an alley in the Pico Neighborhood on September 2 then fled.

Archuletta, who was held on a parole violation, was released one month after the District Attorney's office found there was not enough evidence to file charges in the Carter slaying.

“He remains a suspect in the crime,” said Police Chief James T. Butts, Jr. “We have insufficient evidence to proceed with filing, but the case is still open.”

Butts added that Archuletta is the “only suspect that we have right now” in the Carter case.

Terry Archulleta told The Lookout Monday that the gun found in the car was not her son's, but she added that guns are not uncommon among the youth in the Pico Neighborhood, which she compared to a “war-zone.”

“It’s a war zone in our community," she said. "Many young people are forced to have guns to protect themselves. I don’t agree with people having guns, and it was not even proven that he (Arthur) had the gun.”

Police department spokesman Lt. Frank Fabrega said all four who were in he car were charged with possession of the firearm because “they all had access to it.”

The arrest would constitute Archuletta’s second parole violation, the first resulting in his September 5 arrest in connection with Carter's shooting. However, police have not described what constituted the earlier violation.

Mrs. Archuletta said she had "no idea" what the violation was, adding that despite repeated requests police have not given her a police report. She said police told her that it was standard procedure to withhold police reports in cases still under investigation.

“There was never a violation. Obviously if there was a violation, he would never have been released,” Archuletta said, adding that a parole violation triggers six months to a year in prison.

The police need probable cause to arrest someone, said Chief Butts. But in order to get the prosecutor to take the case, Butts said, police have to “meet the very heavy burden of proof beyond all reasonable doubt.”

The day of his September arrest, Arthur Archuletta, a friend of the Carter's, was instructed by his parole officer to await her arrival and stay home, which is not unusual for parolee home visitations, Mrs. Archuletta said.

What was unusual was that the parole officers postponed the appointment time, and then at around five o’clock showed up with a small battalion of police officers who emerged from more than a dozen undercover cars and squad cars.

The officers ransacked Arthur’s room after handcuffing and hauling him off to the station in front of his family and his mother, who fainted, according to Mrs. Archuletta. Those who witnessed the search said nothing was found, Mrs. Archuletta said.

Police declined to talk about the evidence leading to the arrest.

“There were patrol cars all around the block, we were surrounded by police, it's obvious that something was up,” said Mrs. Archuletta.

“I was in the kitchen and my niece told me that my son was being handcuffed. I was devastated. I said, ‘What is going on?’ They said to me that they were just going to search his room. I asked them why he was handcuffed. They said, ‘Oh that’s just procedure.’ It was also just procedure to walk him off and arrest him.”

Her son had just been released from prison for a non-violent offense, said Mrs. Archuletta, who declined to give the reason for her son’s imprisonment.

After his arrest in connection to Carter's killing, Archuletta spent almost a month in county jail in downtown Los Angeles before being released, according to Mrs. Archuletta.

But the case against Archuletta is still pending, police said.

"We need to wait for evidence to come back from the crime lab, and we're waiting for that," Fabrega told The Lookout last month. "Once we gather all the information, we can refile the case and rearrest the suspect."

Mrs. Archuletta insists her son is innocent.

“They had no evidence. They say insufficient evidence, but there is no evidence, because my son is innocent,” she said. “It’s a big lie, and it’s a big waste of time, but they’ll never cop to that. They’ll never admit they’re wrong. They can never have nothing, because there is nothing to have.”

As a mother, Mrs. Archuletta said she feels for Carter’s mother. “I feel for Shirley (Joseph), this was her only son. Can you imagine losing your only son to violence? I almost lost my son to the system. She deserves justice, but it’s not by arresting and convicting an innocent person. They’re trying to pin this on my son because he’s an easy target.”

If her son is convicted of possessing a gun, Mrs. Archuletta said, she could understand why Arthur would feel the need to carry one.

“Our names have been put out there as the murderer. A lot of people have that in their head, regardless if my son is innocent. Anytime I walk out the door, or my son, or my other children, don’t you think we fear for our lives, that I fear for our lives?

“We have to watch our back. I have to walk my child to school every day. I watch every car and every person in that car. We are prisoners in our own home. This nightmare will never be over for me and my family. Our lives are always going to be in danger.

“We’re innocent until proven guilty, but that isn’t the case, and that isn’t going to be the case till they find the murderer, and he is out there and he is walking free out there.”