A 27-year-old man who was involved in a gang-related killing in Santa Ana 10 years ago and remained on the lam for four years has been released from custody after reaching a plea deal in juvenile court, police said.
Christian Manuel Medina was released from jail last Thursday, according to jail records.
Medina was 17 when 18-year-old Julio Cesar Zavala was gunned down on Feb. 20, 2009, and had been in custody for about 5 1/2 years.
Medina’s case was moved to Juvenile Court in January 2017, following the November 2016 passage of Proposition 57, which allows parole consideration for nonviolent felons and allows juvenile court judges to decide whether underage defendants will be prosecuted as adults.
Medina pleaded guilty last week to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to time served behind bars, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
A change this year in the law regarding murder also affected the case because Medina was not the accused gunman, Bertagna said. In the past, defendants present for and doing nothing to prevent a murder could be on the same hook as the actual killer, but the change in state law allows co-defendants to generally avoid the main charge.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office declined comment because of privacy laws in juvenile cases.
Defendants convicted in Juvenile Court can only be held in custody until they are 25, so Medina could no longer remain in jail, Bertagna said.
He was extradited in May 2013 from Mexico to face a murder charge in the shooting of Zavala at 100 W. Memory Lane.
Zavala and another man were in a white Cadillac El Dorado when Medina and other suspects pulled up behind the car in a Jeep Cherokee, Bertagna said.
One man got out of the Jeep, walked to the Cadillac and opened fire on Zavala, Bertagna said. Zavala punched the gas, crashing the Cadillac through some planters at the Main Place mall parking lot before the car stopped and caught fire, Bertagna said.
A passenger in the Cadillac ran away as Zavala got out and collapsed, he said.
Aaron Ernesto Castaneda, 30, and Jason Luna, 22, were arrested shortly after the shooting, but Medina eluded police, Bertagna said.
Castaneda was convicted on Feb. 16, 2012, of murder and street terrorism, with jurors also finding true special circumstances allegations of criminal street gang activity. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on April 13, 2012.
Luna was acquitted of murder, but convicted of street terrorism and sentenced to two years in prison.
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