Fight was 'like Toys "R" Us,' gang member says

Defense attorneys plan to confront a Crazy Crew gang member on Monday with a line-by-line comparison of what he told authorities versus what he testified to on Friday in the murder trial of 17-year-old Ashley Benton.

Kent Schaffer said he plans to cross-examine the 19-year-old with previous statements to investigators.

The gang member, named "Cartoon," testified Friday that he saw Benton stab MS-13 gang leader Gabriel Granillo during a fight at Ervan Chew park. He described the scene with Granillo walking away, a central theme in the prosecution's case against Benton.

Her attorneys have said she stabbed the 15-year-old in self-defense as he swung a bat at her.

Cartoon testified Benton was one of the gang's "hang arounds" — a person who socialized with the gang but wasn't a member.

Earlier in the day, a 16-year-old MS-13 gang member regaled jurors with a wild tale of reckless driving, gang sign etiquette and the bat-throwing melee in which Granillo was fatally stabbed in the chest.

An obvious raconteur of the gang, "Greñas" (for his disheveled hairstyle) excitedly talked with his hands about details of the June 6, 2006, gang fight in Montrose.

He was the third member of the MS-13 gang to testify.

"It was like Toys 'R' Us," the gang member said during the prosecution's questions.

"They were throwing bats at us, running back for more bats, throwing them and running back for more. They had a lot of bats."

The gang fight between MS-13 and the Montrose-area gang Crazy Crew started after Crazy Crew members flashed their hands in gang signs as they drove past MS-13 members parked in a parking lot near Lamar High school, gang members have testified. Benton was in one of the Crazy Crew cars.

The MS-13 gang followed the Crazy Crew cars in a high-speed chase through Montrose, running stop signs and red lights, according to testimony.

The two groups ended up on opposite sides of Ervan Chew park, where they parked and began to fight, Greñas said.

The courtroom erupted in laughter several times during Greñas' colorful account of the day, but his responses were muted and low as defense attorney Rick DeToto cross-examined him.

Greñas said MS-13 gang members didn't fear Crazy Crew because they weren't a "real" gang. He agreed with other gang testimony that Crazy Crew members were "little kids from Lamar."

Benton, 16 at the time of the incident, was certified to be tried as an adult.

State District Judge Devon Anderson ordered that gang members' faces not be photographed or televised. Because of fear of retaliation for cooperating with authorities, prosecutors asked that proper names of gang members not be published.

brian.rogers@chron.com