For release on March 19, 2015 CONTACT:
Lindsay Walsh
Deputy District Attorney
408-792-2639 SAN JOSE MAN CONVICTED OF PARK MURDER A 22-year-old San Jose man was convicted yesterday for stabbing to death a recent acquaintance. Vincent Gallegos had tried to tell witnesses and later police that he had simply found his bloody “friend” lying on an Almaden Valley park trail and gone for help. Gallegos later changed his story and said that he had stabbed Errick Wright, whom he had just met hours before, in self-defense. Convicted of second-degree murder, Gallegos is expected to be sentenced by the Hon. Vanessa Zecher on May 22. He faces 16 years-to-life in prison. “Twelve jurors concluded that the defendant’s story – which blamed and besmirched the victim – was not true,” prosecutor Lindsay Walsh said. “Their verdict holds Mr. Gallegos accountable for his violent murder and gives Mr. Wright’s family some small measure of solace.” In the late afternoon of March 6, 2013, strollers in the Guadalupe Oak Park witnessed a blood-soaked Gallegos yelling for help and saying someone had hurt his friend. Wright, 27, was lying dead on the ground near a restroom in the park. He had been stabbed 20 times. A police investigation quickly uncovered major inconsistencies in Gallegos’ account of how he found Mr. Wright. An investigator found that he had told six different stories. Police also found Gallegos’ backpack in the victim’s car, parked nearby. The victim’s car keys were found in a hole in a nearby tree.
Gallegos testified during trial that he was in the bathroom when the victim sexually accosted him. He said that the victim attacked him with a knife and that he wrestled the weapon away to desperately fight off his attacker. Forensics, however, showed that the victim had numerous major injuries, including defensive wounds. Gallegos had none. After five-week trial, the jury deliberated five hours before returning the guilty verdict. # # #
Lindsay Walsh
Deputy District Attorney
408-792-2639 SAN JOSE MAN CONVICTED OF PARK MURDER A 22-year-old San Jose man was convicted yesterday for stabbing to death a recent acquaintance. Vincent Gallegos had tried to tell witnesses and later police that he had simply found his bloody “friend” lying on an Almaden Valley park trail and gone for help. Gallegos later changed his story and said that he had stabbed Errick Wright, whom he had just met hours before, in self-defense. Convicted of second-degree murder, Gallegos is expected to be sentenced by the Hon. Vanessa Zecher on May 22. He faces 16 years-to-life in prison. “Twelve jurors concluded that the defendant’s story – which blamed and besmirched the victim – was not true,” prosecutor Lindsay Walsh said. “Their verdict holds Mr. Gallegos accountable for his violent murder and gives Mr. Wright’s family some small measure of solace.” In the late afternoon of March 6, 2013, strollers in the Guadalupe Oak Park witnessed a blood-soaked Gallegos yelling for help and saying someone had hurt his friend. Wright, 27, was lying dead on the ground near a restroom in the park. He had been stabbed 20 times. A police investigation quickly uncovered major inconsistencies in Gallegos’ account of how he found Mr. Wright. An investigator found that he had told six different stories. Police also found Gallegos’ backpack in the victim’s car, parked nearby. The victim’s car keys were found in a hole in a nearby tree.
Gallegos testified during trial that he was in the bathroom when the victim sexually accosted him. He said that the victim attacked him with a knife and that he wrestled the weapon away to desperately fight off his attacker. Forensics, however, showed that the victim had numerous major injuries, including defensive wounds. Gallegos had none. After five-week trial, the jury deliberated five hours before returning the guilty verdict. # # #