Thread: Gang member faces life in prison for 1994 shooting

Published: May 31, 2011
Updated: 5:06 p.m.

Gang member faces life in prison for 1994 shooting

By LARRY WELBORN
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – A Santa Ana gang member was convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday for shooting a man in the head in 1994, leaving him a quadriplegic for more than 15 years until he died in 2009.

Defendant Erwin Johnny Sanchez, 36, has served nearly 17 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder for his role in the Sept. 24, 1994, shooting in Santa Ana that left victim Scott Sittler, 19, on a respirator for the rest of his life.

Now Sanchez faces a potential 45-years-to-life term in prison for the same shooting at his sentencing on Sept. 16 by Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler.

That's because when Sittler died in a care facility of pneumonia in February 2009, coroners in Orange and Los Angeles counties ruled that his death was a direct result of the bullet wound to the neck he sustained during a squabble on a Santa Ana street with Sanchez and two others in 1994.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office then charged Sanchez with murder, plus sentencing enhancements for street gang crimes and use of a firearm, even though he has been in prison for nearly two decades in the same shooting. Prosecutors also filed murder charges in 2009 against Giovanny Edgar Sanchez, 38, Erwin Sanchez' brother, and their friend, Daniel Paul Cruz, 35, both formerly of Santa Ana.

Cruz is scheduled for a separate trial Oct. 11 on a murder charge with sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and carrying a firearm. He faces a maximum sentence of 35 years to life in prison if convicted.

Giovanny Edgar Sanchez, 38, was paroled from prison in 2006 and deported. Orange County authorities are seeking to have him extradited from Guatemala so he can stand trial for Sittler's murder.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller contended during Erwin Sanchez' trial that the Sanchez brothers and Cruz were driving through Santa Ana searching for Sittler because they thought Sittler had been attempting to interfere in the relationship between Giovanny Sanchez and his girlfriend, who was also the mother of his three children.

They found Sittler late in the afternoon on Sept. 24, 1994, in a cul-de-sac off Minnie Street in Santa Ana.

The trio confronted Sittler and argued until Erwin Sanchez pulled out a gun and shot Sittler one time in the mouth at close range, prosecutors said. The bullet pierced the back of the victim's neck, severing his spinal cord.

Erwin Sanchez was sentenced in 1994 to 20 years in state prison in 1996 after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was due to be released in 2015. Now he could be in prison for the rest of his life.

Cruz was paroled after he served a nine-year sentence for attempted murder but was sent back to prison in June 2003 for residential robbery. He was due to be released in 2022.

Contact the writer: lwelborn@ocregister.com or 714-834-3784

http://www.ocregister.com/news/sanchez- ... ttler.html

Giovanny Edgar Sanchez, 38, was paroled from prison in 2006 and deported. Orange County authorities are seeking to have him extradited from Guatemala so he can stand trial for Sittler's murder.

"Good luck with this!"