Calvin Snead is the victim. The 22-year-old man was reportedly pimping out the 17-year-old daughter of two of the defendants. Police say he had just brought the girl back to their home in the Bayview on June 3. The next day, Snead was shot to death in his parked car as he waited to bring the girl back to Los Angeles, where he lived.
District Attorney George Gascon says the murder was premeditated.
"This is a case where people really thought about this very carefully; they put a plan together, which led to the murder," Gascon said.
Prosecutors have surveillance video taken in Hayes Valley by federal agents staking out another case. They say it shows the father, Barry Gilton, and two other defendants meeting on Grove Street and then all three men getting into a car.
Gascon says the video is extremely damning.
"You see the weapon, you see the vehicle leaving, you see the vehicle coming back shortly after the shooting and the killing," he said.
Prosecutors will argue that the three men drove to the Bayview and that Gilton shot and killed Snead.
Tony Tamburello represents the girl's mother, Lupe Mercado.
"Whenever you have parents that have a minor daughter that's being pimped and prostituted, there's just going to be a lot of emotions, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's leading to murder," Tamburello said.
But Gascon says the defendants have a violent past.
"We have, frankly, people who have been involved in criminal activity, have been involved in gangs, have prior history of violence," he said.
Defense lawyers say there were plenty of other people who wanted Snead dead.
Police never recovered the gun that was used in the murder, so the video and cellphone records will play an even more important role in the prosecution's case.
The four defendants will be arraigned in two weeks.
