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Santa Cruz: Trial continues in 2018 shootings case

Santa Cruz Sentinel - 12/7/2022

Dec. 6—SANTA CRUZ — As testimony continued in an attempted murder trial projected to last for multiple months, the defendant's former codefendant took center stage Tuesday.

Defendant Enrique Rocha, 23, faces felony charges related to three gang-related shootings that took place around Santa Cruz in 2018, ending when Rocha himself suffered a gunshot wound during a Chestnut Street shootout.

Michael Day, 22, pleaded no contest last month to his own involvement in two of the same shootings. In exchange for his agreement to truthfully testify in Rocha's trial, Day is expected to face a 15-year prison sentence, versus a maximum of two life sentences.

Day said he and "Ricky" Rocha had grown up together and been associated with the same gang and that the shootings were part of the "work" they put in in order to defend their territory against rival gang members. Questioned by Assistant District Attorney Ilia McKinney, Day admitted to being present and fully participating in numerous acts of violence and being "OK" with the injury or death that may have occurred during each.

"It's definitely hard for me to do this right now. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel in the future," Day responded to McKinney's questions about his decision to testify against his former friend. "I know if I come back to the Santa Cruz area and I run into anyone I used to hang out with, a target will be on my head."

Day testified that for a shooting on Barson Street, the two men agreed that Day would take credit for Rocha's shooting. While the duo ended up arrested prior to being able to tell the lie, said Day, the purpose was to improve Day's standing within the gang.

"I had been trying to get jumped in for years," Day said of the gang. "My time to shine hadn't come yet."

Santa Cruz police investigators later recovered the gun used in the Chestnut Street shooting under the driver's seat of Day's car, parked at his San Jose home. Day said he was asked by a fellow gang member to stash the gun because "it was getting hot" in Santa Cruz.

Outside of Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick's courtroom Tuesday, Betty Day said her grandson had grown up in foster care and gotten involved with the gang early. She described the characterization of Day by Rocha's defense attorney during the trial's opening statements as "a rat" as "horrible."

"People are going to prison for life and people are getting shot," Betty Day said. "He just wants to get his life together and have a better life. I'm so grateful that he's alive."

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