SAN DIEGO (AP) — An attorneys for two men accused of dissolving corpses in acid for a Mexican drug gang will take their turns before a San Diego jury.
Jose Olivera Beritan and David Valencia are charged with murder in the deaths of two men who, authorities say, had their corpses dissolved in a San Diego home in 2007. Beritan is also charged with a third murder and an attempted kidnapping.
The technique of dissolving bodies in liquid is common among warring Mexican cartels but extremely rare on U.S. soil.
Defense attorneys will make their opening statements Thursday — one day after a prosecutor spoke of how the gang committed murders and kidnapping while trafficking drugs. The gang was named “Los Palillos,” which means “The Toothpicks” in English. It broke away from Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel around 2002 and set up shop in San Diego.
