Years On The Run To Escape Murder Charge, RivCo Man Now Has Court Date

SAN JACINTO, CA — A Jan. 26 trial date was confirmed Monday for a man accused of gunning down a San Jacinto resident an ambush-style revenge attack.

After years on the run, Abraham Daniel Palacios, 34, of San Jacinto was arrested in 2019 in connection with the slaying in 2013 of 23-year-old Ivan Ibarra Carrillo.

Palacios is charged with first-degree murder, a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

His half-brother, 49-year-old Juan Javier Mejia of Palm Springs, was convicted in 2016 of identical charges and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

During a status hearing on Monday at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Paul Dickerson set trial proceedings for the last week of January after conferring with the prosecution and defense, who agreed to work on clearing the calendars for the period required to try the case.

Palacios is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.

According to court documents, the defendant allegedly wanted revenge against Carrillo because he believed the victim had orchestrated a home invasion robbery at his girlfriend's house in October 2012.

During Mejia's trial, the prosecution contended that Palacios had been looking for Carrillo over a weeks-long span. Mejia apparently volunteered to act as the hit man, later telling sheriff's investigators that he had control of both handguns used to carry out the killing, according to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office.

On June 6, 2013, Palacios allegedly got word that Carrillo was in his neighborhood only a block away, near the intersection of Las Rosas Drive and Osprey Street, at which point the defendant allegedly picked up Mejia in his girlfriend's four-door Honda Accord. The pair then allegedly set off to find the victim's Ford Excursion, according to prosecutors.

Within minutes, they encountered the SUV heading northbound on Las Rosas Drive, where the defendants allegedly pulled directly into the larger vehicle's path, forcing Carrillo to stop, according to prosecutors.

Mejia jumped out of the Honda with a .40 caliber pistol, firing 14 rounds, several of which struck the victim in the upper body. Prosecutors said Mejia told detectives that when he ran out of bullets, he returned to the car and retrieved a 9mm handgun, then walked to the driver's side window of the Excursion and fired two shots at point-blank range, striking Carrillo in the face and head.

Prosecutors said that the victim was holding up his hands in an attempt to shield himself from the bullets as he was shot. He died at the scene.

Palacios allegedly admitted to his girlfriend that evening that he and Mejia had gunned down Carrillo, and that the two men were planning to flee south of the border, according to prosecutors.

Less than two weeks later, sheriff's detectives located Mejia's ex-wife and four children residing in an apartment on Sunrise Way in Palm Springs. The woman revealed that the defendants had appeared at her residence on the night of June 18 and left three hours later.

An investigator said that when he called Mejia's mobile phone, the defendant "stated that he was already in Mexico," according to court records.

Mejia was taken into custody near Mexico City on Feb. 20, 2015, after more than 18 months on the run, after which he was extradited back to the U.S.

Palacios also was allegedly in Mexico but returned to the U.S. and was located and arrested without incident in Los Angeles in March of 2019. He has prior misdemeanor convictions for illegal possession of a controlled substance, making criminal threats and domestic abuse, court records show.