Prosecutors argued before DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman on March 24 that victims in a 1997 homicide trial deserved to go home the night they were fatally shot.
Oscar Diaz-Romero, 47, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Jose Noel Coreas-Carcaro, 22, and Jose Molina, 27, in a restaurant on the 2400 block of 18th Street, NW, on Aug. 9, 1997. After the shooting, Diaz-Romero left the United States and traveled to El Salvador, where he was extradited from in January 2025.
Prosecutors argued Diaz-Romero brought a revolver to a fist fight between two rival gangs and shot two individuals. Diaz-Romero made the decision to use a revolver and kill these two young men, prosecutors said.
“Whatever their faults, whatever their imperfections, they deserved to go home that night,” stated prosecutors.
Prosecutors reiterated the witness testimony, highlighting the statements from three other members of the defendant’s gang who were present at the bar when the shooting occurred. Their testimony placed Diaz-Romero at the scene and as the shooter, prosecutors argued.
Prosecutors reviewed handwriting in letters, bullet fragments, and identifying tattoos that they alleged connected Diaz-Romero to the crime. They emphasized that Diaz-Romero fled to El Salvador after the crime and changed his name from Oscar Salguero to Oscar Diaz-Romero as consciousness of guilt.
“He fled because he knew he did something wrong,” said prosecutors.
Prosecutors urged the jury to “do the only thing that justice demands,” and reach a guilty verdict on both counts.
Julie Swaney, Diaz-Romero’s attorney, urged the jury to acquit her client, arguing the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. She questioned the credibility of key witnesses, highlighting inconsistencies in testimony, including differences in the fight leading up to the shooting and the gun used.
Given the inconsistencies, Swaney asked the jury how they could find the witnesses credible?
According to Swaney, the only part of the incident the three eyewitnesses agreed on was identifying Diaz-Romero as the shooter, because they needed to pin it on someone else. Since the eyewitnesses were suspects, it made sense for them to all accuse Diaz-Romero and shift blame away from themselves, Swaney claimed.
She highlighted the lack of physical evidence, including a gun, clothing, fingerprints, or DNA, connecting Diaz-Romero to the crime.
Swaney also addressed the prosecution’s claim that Diaz-Romero escaped to El Salvador and changed his name to hide from authorities. According to Swaney, Spanish last names usually consist of one name from the mother and one name from the father.
Diaz-Romero’s parents’ names respectively include “Diaz” and “Romero,” and when Diaz-Romero picked his last name when returning to El Salvador, he was adopting his family’s names, explained Swaney.
According to Swaney, Diaz-Romero was 14-years-old when he was brought to the US and was likely not the person who filled out Salguero as his last name on his immigration documents.
She told the jury to keep in mind the “reasonable doubt all over this case” when deliberating and asked them to find Diaz-Romero not guilty on both counts.
The prosecution acknowledged that inconsistencies were expected given the event occurred 28 years ago and argued that the evidence still pointed to Diaz-Romero.
Prosecutors rejected Swaney’s suggestion that they haven’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Diaz-Romero was the shooter. The witnesses only needed to testify to who shot and killed the victims. Despite inconsistencies in their testimonies, no one was inconsistent with identifying Diaz-Romero as the shooter.
Parties are slated to reconvene when the jury reaches a verdict.
