Menlo Park: Witnesses recant, but murder case goes forward Menlo Park: Witnesses recant, but murder case goes forward (January 19, 2005)

Despite two witness recantations in the case of the June 2004 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Menlo Park resident Travis Quesada, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge James Ellis is proceeding with murder charges against Jai Lee Shan Fontenot, 23, of Menlo Park.

On the night of June 19, Mr. Quesada was found dead and with multiple gunshot wounds outside a Hill Avenue home in the Belle Haven neighborhood. A graduation party was in progress at the home.

Acting on teen witness accounts, police arrested Mr. Fontenot on July 1 on charges that included possession of a firearm while committing a felony.

But in a hearing on Tuesday, January 11, neither witness would identify Mr. Fontenot as the shooter. A 17-year-old boy, who police said picked Mr. Fontenot out in a photo line-up, told the court that he had chosen him because he knew him, not because he was a suspect. The witness also said that police filled in his signed statement after he signed it.

The other witness, an 18-year-old woman and a cousin of the defendant, refused to specifically identify Mr. Fontenot as the shooter while acknowledging that she had done so earlier to the police.

The judge opined that the witnesses' changed testimony was due to their having to testify against their wishes.

Mr. Fontenot's next court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, February 9. -- Bay City News

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