An 18-year-old man has been found guilty of attempted murder and other charges stemming from three gang-related incidents between December 2016 and September 2017 in Santa Maria.
Jonathan Isaiah Limon will face life in state prison as a result of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court jury’s verdict Monday, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
Limon was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a semi-automatic firearm.
The case involved three separate incidents and charges that were initially filed in Santa Maria Juvenile Court due to Limon’s age at the time. However, the judge subsequently ordered Limon to stand trial as an adult.
The first incident occurred Dec. 14, 2016, when Limon stabbed a rival gang member nine times, according to law enforcement officers.
In addition to finding Limon guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, jurors also deemed as true the special allegations that the victim suffered great bodily injury, and that the defendant committed the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
He was found guilty of robbery for a May 5, 2017 incident in which he chased a 12-year-old boy and robbed him of his hat and cell phone, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
On Sept. 27, 2017, Limon shot a victim multiple times with a semi-automatic firearm, and jurors found him guilty of attempted first-degree murder, and also determind that Limon personally shot the victim, the victim suffered great bodily injury, and Limon committed the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Deputy District Attorney John DeChaine led the prosecution team while Limon was represented by attorney Michael Scott.
Limon will be sentenced on July 25 by Judge John McGregor.
The case was one of two gang-related trials occurring in the Santa Maria Court Complex in recent weeks. In the other case, jurors on Friday found Leonel Adrian Torres, 35, guilty of second-degree murder for a fatal stabbing in 2008 near a Guadalupe liquor store.
Torres, one of five defendants linked to the killing of James Michael Christie, had fled to Mexico after the crime so his trial was delayed.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.