Perea guilty of double murder in Ogden wedding shooting

OGDEN — It took jurors just 2 1/2 hours Tuesday to find a man guilty of shooting and killing two people and injuring two others at a wedding party that left people "filled with fear."

The courtroom, which had been divided down the middle with yellow police tape to separate families in the gang-related case, was completely silent as the verdicts were announced.

Riqo Mariano Perea, 22, was pronounced guilty of all four charges: two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of attempted murder. All are first-degree felonies.

Perea showed no emotion in reaction to the verdict, but his family members left the courtroom in tears.

Witnesses during the trial, which began March 11, identified Perea as the gunman in a sport utility vehicle that cruised slowly past a post-wedding reception party at a private home on Aug. 5, 2007, and opened fire.

In addition, prosecutor Chris Shaw told jurors that the physical evidence and Perea's own confession to police in which he said, "I just did it," told the true story.

Sabrina Prieto, 22, and Resendo Nava Nevarez, 29, were killed by gunfire during the incident at the Ogden home. Richard Lee Esquival, 26, and Keri Garcia, 24, were wounded, but recovered.

Sarah Valencia, who had known Perea for years, testified she saw him in the right front passenger seat of the vehicle. She saw him slide out of the window, lean over the roof of the car toward the party-goers and fire the gun, Shaw said.

Even fellow gang members inside the car put Perea in the right front passenger seat.

"All of them are consistent on the critical facts in this case," Shaw said during closing arguments.

However, defense attorney Randall Richards said the case was "filled with fear" and witnesses changed their stories because they were terrified of gang retaliation.

He said during closing arguments that an expert witness and the physical evidence really showed the shots were "friendly fire" that came from the house and carport, which meant someone there was firing at the SUV.

Richards said people who got hit by bullets must have been shot from the house and carport area because of the location of their wounds.

But Shaw said witnesses from the party testified there were no shots fired from behind them or from the house or the carport. Instead, the shots came from the street where the vehicle was traveling.

One man inside the car testified that Perea stated, "Nobody saw nuthin', or there's a bullet with your name on it."

Richards argued that when Sarah Valencia was first interviewed in a hospital, she said she did not see who fired the shots. But seven days later, she identified Perea.