Lengthy prison sentences were handed down Monday to two Carson City gang members who opened fire on tenants of an East Carson City apartment complex after residents stopped them from vandalizing a mailbox last summer.
Ricardo Llamas, 20, will spend nine to 24 years in prison on three counts of assault with a deadly weapon. John Turner, 19, was sentenced to four to 12 years on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Both Llamas and Turner, sentenced in succession by Judge Todd Russell, apologized for the incident.
On July 26, they went to the Stanton Arms apartments on Woodside Drive and fired shots at a man in the parking lot and at his father, who yelled from the stairwell for them to stop. No one was hit.
Earlier in the evening, the man and the complex manager had chased off Llamas, Turner and two other men after they saw the group approach a cluster mailbox shaking a can of spray paint.
"I would like to apologize to the victim at this time and the community for my actions," said Turner, whose attorney Tom Susich made an impassioned plea for leniency, sighting Turner's upbringing as a victim of child abuse for which his mother was prosecuted.
"I'm a misguided young man who (sought) love in all the wrong places," said Turner.
Susich took umbrage to a statement in Turner's presentencing investigation by Parole and Probation that labeled his client a "violent predator."
From age 13 to 18, Turner was arrested at least eight times as a juvenile for drinking and violating his probation on the drinking charges, Susich said, noting that could hardly be deemed a violent history.
"I think giving him the max in order to send a message is ridiculous," he said. "It's a waste of human life."
Llamas attorney Kay Ellen Armstrong also made a plea for leniency, showing the judge photographs of Llamas as a child fishing with his family and holding his baby daughter.
"I ain't got a criminal record. I ain't got a violent record. I hope you will show me leniency. I'm really sorry for what I did. I'm really sorry to the community," said Llamas.
Assistant District Attorney Gerald Gardner asked for stiff sentences for both young men, saying he intends to seek gang enhancements on any crime that involves gang activity.
The law requires a court to double the punishment for a felony if that felony was committed with the intent to promote gang activity. The law also requires the court to deny probation in "gang crimes."
"We do need to let the community know we will not stand by and let these gangs continue to get a stranglehold on our community," Gardner said. "It's protecting the community from the actions of these people as well."
The judge agreed with Gardner's assessment.
"Despite your age, when you choose to join a gang and do gang bidding, you obviously have to pay for that," Russell said in sentencing Llamas.
Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.