Jury finds teens guilty of reckless homicide

May 9—GOSHEN — Reckless homicide: That's the verdict of the jury for both Leonardo Chavarria and Alejandro Briano.

After hours of deliberations late into Monday evening, the jury issued a verdict of guilty of reckless homicide, a lesser included offense, but a Level 5 Felony. Options on the table were murder, reckless homicide, criminal recklessness, and not guilty.

The charge stems from a shooting at the 7-Eleven Gas Station, 2220 Elkhart Road, Goshen, April 23, 2022, where Chavarria and Briano, both 16 at the time, had stopped to get gas around 1 p.m. that day. Just a few minutes later, Chavarria became involved in a physical altercation with 27-year-old Santino Garcia, the end result being the loss of Garcia's life and investigations into multiple gang affiliations that questioned the relationship, or rather the rivalry, between two locals gangs and just how the two teens and Garcia may have been interconnected.

Although much of the trial, which began last Monday, was live-streamed through the court's video camera system, the decision was made late Monday morning to shut off the cameras for the safety and validity of the trial.

"There was a member of the public that thought it was appropriate to record and screenshot some of the trial, and posted it on social media," explained Prosecuting Attorney Vicky Becker. "We cannot allow the jury to be exposed to the things and the commenting that was going on ... The most important thing is the court protecting the jury from outside influences so that has to take priority over everything else."

An updated Rule 2.17 of the Code of Judicial Conduct as of May 1, allows judges around the state to decide for themselves if they will allow news media to record, photograph, and broadcast proceedings inside their courtrooms. The Chavarria-Briano trial, having begun May 1, is one of the first that Goshen's courthouse could have allowed recording by news media, but not necessarily the public if allowed by Elkhart County Circuit Court Judge Michael Christofeno.

Previously, the code prohibited such acts without prior Indiana Supreme Court approval. The amendment to the code gives discretion to the local judges, and at the beginning of the trial, Christofeno reminded viewers and in-person spectators of his stance prohibiting video recording proceedings.

Hoosier State Press Association Executive Director Amelia McClure explained that in the State of Indiana, the decision to livestream a proceeding is entirely up to the discretion of the court and it's not unusual for portions, at least, of some trials to not be streamed at all.

"It is pretty normal to have times that proceedings aren't broadcast," she said. "Unfortunately, it's not subject to the same kind of mandates as public meetings."

Only the closing arguments and time lapsing during jury deliberations were not livestreamed due to the shutdown of the system.

In an extensive trial, the jury heard from many officers, investigators, and witnesses including Garcia's girlfriend, as well as Chavarria himself, who recounted what he recalled to have happened. Briano did not testify.

Chavarria and Briano will be sentenced June 1.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.