Gang member sentenced to 50 years in prison for teen's death
Posted on Friday, October 09 @ 13:19:41 EDT
Topic: Illegal Immigrant Gangs Terrorists
|
 Man convicted of killing Montgomery Blair freshman after altercation on Ride On bus
A 21-year-old gang member from Takoma Park was sentenced to 50 years in prison Thursday nearly a year after shooting and killing a high school freshman on a Montgomery County bus.
Topics: Illegal immigrant, MS-13, Hector Mauricio Hernandez sentenced, Tai Lam murdered, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
October 8, 2009
Jason Tomassini
Post-Newsweek Media, Inc/Gazette.Net
Hector Mauricio Hernandez, of the 8600 block of Flower Avenue in Takoma Park, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for first-degree murder and 10 years each for two counts of first-degree assault in Montgomery County Circuit Court Thursday. On Nov. 1, 2008, Hernandez shot and killed 14-year-old Montgomery Blair High School freshman Tai Lam after an altercation on a Ride On bus near the intersection of Flower Avenue and Piney Branch Road. Hernandez also shot and wounded two teens riding with Lam.
Hernandez pleaded guilty to those charges, and one count of use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, in May. He received five years in prison for the handgun charge, which will run concurrently to the other sentences. He will be eligible for parole in 25 years.
"You took a young boy's life," said Circuit Court Judge Michael D. Mason before sentencing Hernandez to a harsher sentence than the 15 to 45 years the sentencing guidelines recommended. "He was 14 years of age and nothing would suggest he did anything to contribute to or bring upon his own death."
In an emotional sentencing, families of both Hernandez and Lam met for the first time, both pleading for their respective loved ones to be judged appropriately.
Hernandez's family and lawyers portrayed a young man with a troubled childhood, gaining only a first-grade education before being forced to work to support his family as a 7-year-old in El Salvador, after his father committed suicide. He came to the United States in 2004 to support his mother and three sisters and he has since had a daughter, his family and friends said.
"Everybody deserves a second chance, when you get to know him you'll know he is a good person," Sonia Hernandez, a family friend, said in court.
Prosecutors and Lam's family focused not on the childhood Hernandez didn't have, but the childhood he took from Lam, a popular honors student whose death sparked a wave of activism from teenagers in the Silver Spring area.
"He was my only friend," said his brother Lam Cao, 17, when he slowly and softly addressed Mason, asking for a sentence of 100 years as his mother Ngoc Lam wept nearby. Cao and Hernandez did not make eye contact during the sentencing.
But when he spoke briefly Thursday, Hernandez did apologize to the Lam family before asking Mason for mercy.
"I'd like to prove that somebody who is a gang member can make a change to their life," Hernandez, wearing a green prison jumpsuit with a long-sleeve white t-shirt underneath, said through an interpreter.
Prior to Hernandez's testimony, his public defender Audrey Creighton reiterated that her client was not yet an official member of the violent street gang MS-13, but had contact with them that he was trying to break off. But prosecutors and Mason didn't buy the claims.
In an incident on Oct. 3, 2008, Hernandez was arrested while in possession of a pocket knife after reports that he harassed a student at Northwood High School in Silver Spring. In an interview with the arresting officer and Montgomery County Police Third District gang coordinator, Detective Scott Webster, Hernandez said he "jumped into" MS-13 at age 14 while in El Salvador, Webster testified Thursday. "Jumping into" a gang is a form of induction into MS-13, Webster said, where members of the gang surround the prospective member and beat him for 13 seconds for him to gain admittance.
Webster also found a digital camera on Hernandez with recent photos of him in MS-13 apparel and flashing gang signs. Hernandez has an MS-13 tattoo on his arm. Webster testified that Hernandez told him he was in the MS-13 faction "Normandy Locos Salvatrucha," which is based in the Piney Branch Road and University Boulevard area of Silver Spring.
"A person who wants to leave the gang life is not going to continue to represent that gang," said Jeffrey Wennar, an Assistant State's Attorney for Montgomery County who prosecuted the case.
Months prior to the shooting, Hernandez was attacked twice by rival gangs and had to be admitted to the hospital, said Creighton. He began carrying a gun for protection, she said.
As Lam, his brother Cao and their friends were traveling home from downtown Silver Spring Nov. 1, someone was tripped and it started an altercation between Hernandez's group and Lam's group, Creighton said. Insults were shouted and Lam's group began throwing things and spitting at Hernandez's group, Creighton said.
When Hernandez's group left the bus Hernandez took out his gun and shot back into it, killing Lam and injuring two others.
Gilmar Leonardo Romero, 20, was with Hernandez on the night of the shooting and pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact for second-degree murder. He is facing deportation. Mario Ernesto Milan-Canales, 30, pleaded guilty to hindrance and obstruction of a police officer.
In past court hearings, Hernandez has been identified as an undocumented immigrant and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has filed a detainer for Hernandez since his arrest. A detainer was filed for Romero as well. A detainer flags suspected illegal immigrants who are in the custody of other law enforcement agencies if ICE believes an immigration law has been violated and holds them for possible federal charges and deportation proceedings after they serve their sentence.
Discuss this article in our Discussion Groups and meet CITIZEN ACTIVISTS!
|
|
| |
| Article Rating | Average Score: 5
Votes: 4
| |
|
Contribute/Join
