2 Norteños sentenced for murder
GANG MEMBERS INVOLVED IN SHOOTING OF S.J. TEEN
By Brandon Bailey
Mercury News
Article Launched: 11/06/2007 01:35:10 AM PST
More than four years ago, the murder of a San Jose teenager shocked the community and prompted officials to rebuild a long-neglected park. On Monday, after a long and complex prosecution, a judge gave two gang members 70 years to life for their role in the unprovoked attack.
Authorities said Christian Jimenez, a popular 15-year-old with no gang ties, was minding his own business when a group of Norteño gang members targeted him at San Jose's Olinder Park.
"The victim was stalked and callously murdered," said Superior Court Judge Edward Lee, before handing down the sentences for 26-year-old Robert Sanchez and 23-year-old Jorge Ayala. "This was a particularly horrible, inhuman and atrocious crime."
A jury convicted both men of first degree murder and related charges in December. One more defendant is still facing trial, while others have previously been convicted and sentenced for their parts in the attack. Alexander Diaz, who fired the fatal shotgun blast at Christian, drew a sentence of 80 years to life in 2003.
In addition, four men received prison terms for attempting to intimidate witnesses - including one gang member sentenced to 24 years to life after threatening to kill two people with knowledge about the case.
Sanchez and Ayala said little in court Monday, although defense attorney Guerin Provini said his client expressed remorse for the killing in a letter to the judge.
A probation officer reported that Sanchez is a high
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school dropout who was "jumped into" a gang when he was 13 and smoked methamphetamine regularly starting at age 15. Also known as "Spanky," he has numerous tattoos, including various gang symbols and one that says "F--- the World" on his chest.
Both men have records of non-violent crime. Deputy District Attorney David Ezgar noted in court that both are longtime gang members who played distinct roles in what authorities have described as a misguided effort to retaliate for an earlier incident.
"One of the most disturbing facts in the case is that these men didn't even know Christian Jimenez," Ezgar said.
Ayala's brother had been stabbed by someone who may have been part of a rival Sureño gang, according to court files. Authorities said several of the defendants got together and talked about looking for someone to kill in retaliation.
They found Christian, an eighth-grader at Willow Glen Middle School, as he was hanging out with two friends in a park sometimes frequented by Sureños. According to testimony and police reports, Sanchez and another Norteño claimed to be Sureños in an effort to get Christian and his friends to declare their allegiance to the gang.
But after the boy repeatedly told them he wasn't in a gang, the two men began punching and kicking Christian and one of his friends. Diaz then emerged from some bushes with a shotgun, authorities said, firing a blast that ripped through Christian's chest.
Meanwhile, probation reports say Ayala and another man had been circling the park in a car, while Ayala and Diaz conferred repeatedly by cell phone. When the shooting was over, the three attackers got in the car and fled the scene.
Though he first claimed the shooting was an accident, Diaz later pleaded no contest to first degree murder and other charges - including an unrelated home invasion robbery that he committed after the shooting in the park.
The driver of the get-away car, Jonathan Pipken, was the only defendant who agreed to testify for the prosecution. Probation reports indicate he was a gang associate but not a full-fledged member; he was sentenced to three years as an accessory in the crime.
Still facing trial is Jesse Salinas, 23, identified in court records as the man who joined Sanchez in confronting Christian and his friends.
In the months that followed, city officials said the murder gave new urgency to old plans for cleaning and renovating Olinder Park, which is off Williams Street east of downtown. In 2005, they invited Christian's mother to a reopening ceremony where they showed off $3.5 million worth of playground equipment, athletic fields and trails along Coyote Creek.
Angelica Jimenez, meanwhile, said she has spent many days in court over the past four years, watching Ezgar prosecute her son's killers. She said she was grateful that her boss in the warehouse business where she works has been understanding about giving her time off.
The dead boy's mother said she didn't want to comment about the sentencing. But in a letter to Judge Lee, she wrote that she still struggles to understand why her son is dead.
"In my bedroom when I wake up every day, I look at a picture of Christian on my nightstand," she wrote, adding that she keeps Christian's ashes in a box in his bedroom, along with photos and gifts from his friends.
"Every day I hug the box and tell Christian 'Good morning' and that I love him," she added. "Then I go about the business of living."
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