Olivo Jr.

Nunez.

Two gang members were sentenced today to 16 years in state prison for the December 2014 stabbing death of a 14-year-old Eureka boy.

Judge John Feeney imposed the sentences this morning on Mario Nuñez and Joe Daniel Olivo Jr. ,who admitted earlier to the gang-related voluntary manslaughter of Jesus Romero Garcia. Olivo’s son, Joe Daniel Olivo III, is expected to be sentenced to 12 years on Wednesday.

After the men were sentenced, Garcia’s two sisters and a cousin read letters expressing their grief and outrage over the death of a child.

“Death can take an unfinished life and make it finished,” one of the sisters said. “It isn’t fair.”

She said their father abandoned the family when Garcia was 10, leaving him without a father figure. 

“This led him down an unfortunate path,” she said.

At the time of his death, Garcia was associating with known gang members. He had run away from home and was on probation, and he was hiding out in a friend’s apartment because he feared gang retaliation. Garcia had made the mistake of telling people that Olivo III requested protective custody while in Juvenile Hall.

It was Olivo III, then 18, who allegedly came to the apartment with his father and Nuñez and stabbed Garcia three times in the chest. The boy was found hours later, bleeding to death on the lawn of a home on 15th Street.

“Our world changed forever on Dec. 17, 2014,” the sister said.

Garcia’s cousin said he had taught her to do silly things, like riding a bike with no hands. She still can’t believe he’s gone.

“How is my 14-year-old cousin dead?” she asked. “I always thought you had to be old to be dead.”

She said Garcia’s death changed her as a person, leaving her full of hate. She began to get in trouble at school and went into therapy for depression.

Addressing Olivo and Nuñez. she said they will be spending their days in a small cell.

“But who cares, right?” she said. “At the end of the day this case is just another paycheck for the judge and the lawyers.”

She also said the truth is “You (the defendants) are going to forget about this letter in about a week.”

Olivo and Nuñez, who generally act carefree and even jovial in court, stood and listened attentively with their faces somber.

Another sister spoke about how the death has affected her mother, who was once a joyful person.

“After her son got killed by these monsters she doesn’t laugh as much and you can see the sadness in her eyes.”

The sister said she often wonders what she could have done to prevent her brother’s death. And over and over, she pictures him dying alone in the rain.

“Lying on the sidewalk with open wounds in his chest and rain washing away the blood,” she said. “He was a child.”

As for the killers, “they’re used to being in and out of jail. It’s their lifestyle.”

Both Olivo Jr., 39, and Nuñez, 32, were already in prison when they were arrested for the boy’s killing.

Deputy District Attorney Luke Bernthal, after the women read their letters, said he hoped the sentencing will give the Garcia family some closure and help protect the public.

The District Attorney’s Office chose to accept pleas of voluntary manslaughter rather than go to trial on murder charges. A gag order on the case prevents attorneys from discussing it outside court. But no-one witnessed the stabbing, and there would have been credibility problems with at least three prosecution witness who would have been called: Michael “Tank” Grant is in jail on a charge of attempted murder. Anthony “Creeper” Burgess is serving a seven-year prison term for robbing a marijuana dealer at gunpoint. And he was recently scheduled for trial on a separate case of involuntary manslaughter.

And Carolyn Snow, the woman Garcia was staying with when he was stabbed, reneged on statements she allegedly made to Eureka police investigators about what happened. At a preliminary hearing Snow denied making the statements or said they were taken out of context. The prosecuting attorney at the time suggested she was too afraid to testify.

What’s undisputed is that Snow’s then-boyfriend Nick Leigl arrived at the apartment, and the Olivos and Nuñez came in shortly after. Snow, Leigl and Michael Grant went into a back bedroom. They heard a scuffle and came out to find Garcia alone, clutching his stomach. He insisted his wounds weren’t serious and he didn’t want to go to the hospital because he was a runaway on probation.

Leigl was pressed into taking Garcia to the hospital, but but the boy either jumped out of the car or was dropped off half-way there. Leigl was originally charged with murder, but was finally released from jail after three separate judges refused to hold him to answer on the charge.

The sentences and credits given today were almost identical: Six years for voluntary manslaughter and 10 years for committing the crime to further gang activity. Nuñez was given credit for 944 days served plus 141 days “good time” for a total of 1,085 days, or almost three years. Olivo Jr. received credit for 949 actual days and 142 days “good time” for a total of 1,091 days served.

Because they pleaded guilty to a violent felony, the men receive only 15 percent for  “good time”  instead of the usual 50 percent.

Olivo and Nuñez can be on parole or supervised release for up to three years after they get out of prison on this case.

###

PREVIOUSLY: