Three men were sentenced to multiple life sentences in prison Tuesday for their roles in the Santa Maria shooting spree that killed nine people and injured several more.
Family members of the victims spoke in court about their grief and the lifelong impact of losing their sons and brothers.
The sentencing hearing was the conclusion of Santa Barbara County’s multi-defendant, complex criminal case split between a Santa Maria trial and a Santa Barbara trial.
The defendants and other MS-13 gang members were responsible for a string of local shootings in 2015 and 2016 that targeted actual and perceived rival gang members, prosecutors alleged.
The court case linked the defendants to the killings and attempted killings of 23 people in Santa Maria and Oxnard.
In the Santa Maria trial, five men were convicted of murder and other crimes by a jury and sentenced in May to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The three defendants in the Santa Barbara trial – Jose Narciso Escobar Hernandez, Jose Balmore Saravia Lainez and Jose Ricardo Saravia Lainez – were convicted of murder, attempted murder, and other crimes last month.
On Tuesday, Judge Michael Carrozzo sentenced each man to more than 300 years prison and multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Victim Impact Statements
Prosecutor Kelly Duncan read statements from several family members of victims in this case, and others spoke in court during the hearing.
First, Duncan read a statement written by the sister of Javier Murillo-Sanchez, who was killed on Jan. 12, 2016, when he was 23 years old.
“Even though he was four years younger, he always wanted to make sure I was taken care of,” the sister said in her statement to the court.
She remembers her brother as a kind, brave, handsome man who was the life of the party – the one all her cousins wanted to spend time with during family gatherings.
The men who “robbed our family of Javier” killed someone they didn’t even bother to meet or know, she said.
Brayan Mejia Molina was 17 years old when he was killed in his car in front of his home on Dec. 4, 2015. His father said in a statement that the loss of his beautiful baby is “a pain that will never stop hurting and will not forget.”
He said he did not hate the men who killed his son, despite the pain it caused, because he can only feel pity that they also destroyed their own lives and the lives of their families.
“From prison you all have no future that you will be able to give your loved ones,” he wrote.
Ulises Garcia Mendez was 17 years old when he was killed on Nov. 20, 2015. His mother spoke in court using a Spanish-language interpreter and addressed the defendants directly.
“They don’t know how much pain I have since they killed my son,” she said.
“I ask that justice be served the way it should be, because today I have a daughter who suffers very much from the absence, that little girl suffers from the loss of her brother. All of you do not know how sad I see her, and how that breaks my heart.”
The defendants all need to be locked up so they cannot cause more harm to the community, she said.
Eric Martinez, who was injured in a 2015 shooting related to this case, wrote a letter to the court about the devastating impact to his life. Martinez lost a leg and a kidney and continues to suffer physical, mental and emotional trauma from the shooting, he wrote.
He has worked in agriculture throughout his life but now, with a prosthetic leg, cannot get hired, he said.
Oscar Joaquin was 17 years old when he was shot and sliced with a machete on July 28, 2015 in Santa Maria.
“This trial was held here in Santa Barbara so I don’t think the impact is understood on how it impacted our community; not just Oscar’s murder but the murder of all these young men was devastating to our community,” his mother, Rebekah Spicuglia, said in court Tuesday.
She said showing up to watch both murder trials, in two different cities, has been excruciating.
“I had to relive the loss of Oscar over and over again by showing up for him here,” she said.
“I’m really glad to be closing this chapter. I’m free to walk out these doors and Oscar’s memory will carry me forward.”
She also read a statement from Oscar’s father, who said he misses his son every day and wonders what he would be like now, if he was still here.
“Probably if Oscar was here, I’d be a grandpa already,” he wrote.
Three Men Sentenced to Life in Prison
Carrozzo, the presiding judge for the Santa Barbara trial, said this case has affected the entire community, and if not for the efforts of Santa Maria law enforcement, there would have been additional deaths.
“I hope trial and sentencing provides some closure for the victims and their families,” he said.
Carrozzo also said he sees no remorse and no sense of responsibility among the defendants.
The only issue in their favor is that they had minimal criminal records or no criminal records prior to these allegations, he said. The three men were accused of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and gang-related charges.
Carrozzo sentenced Jose Narciso Escobar Hernandez to an aggregated term of 339 years to life in prison, followed by four sentences of life without the possibility of parole.
He sentenced Jose Ricardo Saravia Lainez to 439 years to life in prison, followed by seven sentences of life without the possibility of parole.
Jose Balmore Saravia Lainez was sentenced to 385 years to life in prison, followed by three sentences of life without the possibility of parole.
Carrozzo also dismissed the few criminal counts for which the jurors could not come to a verdict.
All three men received 2,337 days of credit for time served in county jail. They have been in Santa Barbara County Main Jail custody since their arrests in March 2016.
Duncan, who prosecuted the Santa Barbara trial along with Deputy District Attorney Lynmarc Jenkins, has been working on this case since 2017.
“I think the jury did a fantastic job of really listening, of digesting this very long trial,” she said Tuesday after the sentencing hearing.
“Ultimately the jury decided this gang is responsible for all the charged murders and attempted murders.”
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.