Murder charges filed in separate cases
Prosecutors on Thursday filed murder charges against two people in separate high-profile homicide cases.
The Merced County District Attorney’s Office filed a single count of murder against 20-year-old Dante Woods in connection with the Jan. 5 slaying of Dean Barker, a 59-year-old Merced taxicab driver, Chief Deputy District Attorney Rob Carroll confirmed.
Woods remains in custody at the John Latorraca Correctional Facility on $1 million bail, according to booking records.
Woods is expected to be arraigned Friday along with his co-defendant, Joseph Castrillo, in Merced Superior Court. Castrillo, 18, was arrested Jan. 15 by Merced police detectives. Woods was arrested Tuesday.
Merced police have said Barker was killed during a botched robbery. He was found just after midnight in his taxicab suffering from a gunshot wound in the 300 block of Mimi Lane.
Barker was a well-known driver with the Merced Taxicab Co., where he worked for about seven years. He was also a former Dos Palos police officer.
Merced prosecutors on Thursday also filed charges against 38-year-old Hector Manuel Oseguera in connection with the Dec. 26, 2014, shooting death of Jose Diaz Garcia, 32. Garcia was shot and killed just after midnight during a family Christmas party and barbecue in the 300 block of Fancher Avenue in Planada.
The nature of the relationship between Oseguera and Garcia has not been made clear. It also remains unclear what sparked the violence.
Merced County sheriff’s detectives tracked Oseguera to a town in Mexico and reached him by telephone. Investigators managed to persuade Oseguera to return to California to face criminal charges, deputies said previously.
Oseguera was taken into custody Monday by sheriff’s detectives at the Mexico-U.S. border.
He made his first appearance in court Thursday before Commissioner Jeanne E. Schechter, but did not enter a plea to charges of murder and assault with a firearm. Schechter rescheduled Oseguera’s arraignment for Tuesday morning.
The Merced County Public Defender’s Office has been appointed to represent the defendant in court.
Oseguera remains in custody at the Merced County jail on $2 million bail.
Sun-Star staff writer Rob Parsons can be reached at (209) 385-2482 or rparsons@mercedsunstar.com.
This story was originally published January 22, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Murder charges filed in separate cases."