Originally published by The Fresno Bee on December 16, 2011
A Fresno County community activist whose text implicated her in the attempted murder of her former boyfriend was released from jail Thursday after the charge was dismissed. Erika Soria, 29, who was caught in a love triangle, faced life in prison if convicted in Fresno County Superior Court, said her attorney, Annette Smurr. It took prosecutor Chris Walsh digging into the evidence to get Soria freed from Fresno County Jail, Smurr said. In court Thursday, Walsh told Judge Houry Sanderson that he dismissed the attempted murder charge. Police believed Soria was involved in the shooting of her former boyfriend Juan Mercado because it happened in her apartment in Parlier in September.
Though she was home, she had sent text messages to Mercado right before he was shot. Some of her messages appear to sound as if she was part of a plot to shoot Mercado, Smurr said.
