Three teenagers who were arrested last year in connection with the Jan. 25, 2016, stabbing homicide of a Pioneer Valley High School student were handed state prison sentences earlier this month.
Carlos Geovani Perez, Pablo Juarez, and Daniel Jaime were three of the six suspects arrested last year for the student’s murder. Five of the six suspects were minors, but all were charged as adults by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
Perez was given the longest sentence of 12 years—two years’ base term, and 10 years on a gang enhancement, according to court documents. He earned 470 days’ credit for time served in the county jail.
Juarez was sentenced to a total of six years—three for assault with a deadly weapon, and three for a gang enhancement, with 573 days’ credit for time served. Jaime received the same amount of credit, with a total state prison sentence of eight years.
Each must pay $10,987.80 to the victim restitution fund and register as a gang member upon their release from prison.
At the March 8 sentencing, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Gustavo Lavayen gave his condolences to the family of the deceased.
“To the family, I express my deepest sympathy,” Lavayen said in a court transcript. “I know whatever we do here can’t even come close to making it right, and I wish you the best in the future. I’m very sorry for your loss again. This was a very tragic, completely senseless incident.”
As for the others arrested in connection with the stabbing: Gerardo Gonzalez Flores was sentenced on Feb. 24 to five years in prison, Andrew Molina is scheduled to be sentenced in May, and Israel Gaspar Cruz—who was the only adult present at the time of the murder and is accused of wielding the weapon—has jury trials scheduled through August.
This article appears in Mar 23-30, 2017.