A judge will decide if the 17-year-old suspect is tried as an
adult on murder charges
Hollister – A 17-year-old Hollister boy could be tried as an adult on charges that he was in a car that ran-over and killed a fellow teen during a gang-related altercation last week.
San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield said Monday that his office may charge the suspect, who has not yet been identified because he is a minor, as an adult.
“We’re taking a look to see if we should,” Sarsfield said. “We have asked the court to try him as an adult but we’re not insisting on it.”
Hollister police officers arrested the suspect last Wednesday on suspicion of being in the car that ran over 18-year-old Daniel Gallegos Monday night. Gonzalo Munguia, 18, a second suspect in the slaying, is still at large.
During a brief arraignment hearing at San Benito County Juvenile Hall Monday, the 17-year-old was charged with felony second degree murder and participation in a criminal street gang, Sarsfield said. Hollister police said the teen is a documented Sureño gang member.
If tried as an adult and convicted, the suspect could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. If tried and convicted as a juvenile, the suspect could be held until the age of 25, Sarsfield said.
The prosecutor said he decided against filing first degree murder charges, which carry a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for adults, because the suspect is not alleged to have been driving the car that ran over Gallegos.
A “fitness hearing,” likely held in the next month, will determine if the juvenile suspect is fit to be tried as an adult. A judge will ultimately decide if the suspect is tried as an adult or as a juvenile, Sarsfield said.
Local defense attorney Greg LaForge was assigned to represent the teenager in juvenile court on Monday.
“We just received the police report and are beginning our own investigation,” LaForge said Monday. “We are preparing to vigorously defend our client and we are preparing for the fitness hearing.”
LaForge said he would oppose any motion seeking to try his client as an adult.
Sarsfield said Deputy District Attorney Stephen Wagner had been assigned to the case.
Munguia is alleged to have been driving the car, Sarsfield said. Hollister police have issued a warrant for Munguia’s arrest, but the teenager had not been arrested as of press time on Monday.
Gallegos, 18, and his 16-year-old brother had been walking in the 200 block of Hillcrest Street in Hollister Monday shortly before midnight when Munguia and the 17-year-old suspect allegedly drove up behind them in a late-model Ford sedan. Police believe the two suspects t out of the car and walked toward Gallegos and his brother.
The 17-year-old suspect was allegedly carrying a beer bottle and Munguia a crowbar, police said. A fight broke out between the four teens, police said. Later, the two suspects allegedly got back in the car and ran over Gallegos, possibly more than once, according to police. Both Munguia and the 17-year-old juvenile are documented members of the Sureño criminal street gang, according to police.
Gallegos, a Pinnacles Community School student preparing to graduate in December, later died of his injuries. His mother, Katherine Lara, said her son was not a gang member.
“You don’t have to be a gang member to be killed by one,” she said in a previous interview with the Free Lance.
The 17-year-old suspect was arrested Wednesday after police found the car believed to have been used in the murder in front of his home, according to Public Information Officer Rosie Betanio. The boy was arrested at his home and taken to the San Benito County Juvenile Hall. He was booked on suspicion of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and participation in a criminal street gang, all of which are felonies.
The suspect is being held at the San Benito County Jail without bail, according to San Benito County Chief Probation Officer Deborah Botts.
