MS-13 Gang Member Is Convicted Of Murder

Victim Was Beaten And Stabbed in the Back

The murder trial of Marvin Rodriguez-Barrera in Prince William County Circuit Court last week focused as much on whether the 19-year-old was a killer as on gang activity in this area.

What do members of the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, wear? Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Millette asked admitted member Michael Ayala, on day two of the trial.

Blue clothes, long belts, low-top tennis shoes, Nikes or Chuck Taylors, he answered.

What are their hand symbols? she asked.

He contorted his right hand so his forefinger and a pinky pointed outward as the rest of his fingers curled downward.

What about his tattoo depicting three dots?

They are called "my crazy life," Ayala said, adding that they represent the three places an MS-13 member will end up: a hospital, jail and the cemetery.

During the trial, prosecutors were not only arguing that Rodriguez-Barrera plunged a large knife into the back of Charles Angelos Jr., 21, as he lay on the ground being beaten in November but also that he did so while participating in gang activity.

The defendant and witnesses had nicknames such as Snoopy, Smurf, Chimpy, Silent and Sparky. Rodriguez-Barrera was known as Abnormal. Ayala, who testified against him and faces the same charges, is called Mu¿eco, or "doll" in Spanish.

On Thursday, jurors found Rodriguez-Barrera guilty of first-degree murder and the gang charge. They recommended that he serve 37 years in prison for murder and five years for gang participation.

Prosecutors showed that on the night of the killing, Rodriguez-Barrera went to a party on Portwood Turn near Manassas attended by MS-13 members and at one point left with several others to buy marijuana at Angelos's house. When they arrived and were told there was none to buy, Rodriguez-Barrerra threw a paint bucket through a sliding-glass door, shattering it, Ayala testified. The group then returned to the party and a little while later noticed that Angelos and two men were standing outside. That's when Rodriguez-Barrera and the others grabbed weapons and confronted them, prosecutors said.

"They came out like a bunch of rats," Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert (D) said. "They all came out bent on mischief."