SAN JOSE
– An alleged Gilroy gang member who plead guilty to shooting a
neighbor in the head at point-blank range for
”
claiming Sunnyvale
”
was sentenced to 21 years in prison Friday morning.
SAN JOSE – An alleged Gilroy gang member who plead guilty to shooting a neighbor in the head at point-blank range for “claiming Sunnyvale” was sentenced to 21 years in prison Friday morning.
Nearly 20 members of the victim’s family were on hand at the Hall of Justice in San Jose to see Mark Chavez, 25, sentenced for taking the life of the man who was their father, brother, uncle and son.
Chavez, who was severely intoxicated at the time of the killing, shot Mark Moss in front of several witnesses – including Moss’s then 2-year-old son – on Feb. 11, 2000, at Moss’s Fairview Drive home.
Moss was a 32-year-old father of three who had recently moved to Gilroy from Sunnyvale. Moss did not have gang ties, and he was trying to start a new life with his young family in Gilroy, said several of his family members who spoke through tears at the sentencing this morning.
“This evil man (Chavez) has taken away a 32-year-old man from his three children,” said Moss’ older sister Yvette Ruiz, who Judge Kevin Murphy ordered to receive more than $4,000 in restitution from Chavez for funeral costs. “We would rather have life in jail, but we are satisfied with this – there is some closure.”
Due to Chavez’s state of intoxication during the incident – when arrested by Gilroy police hours later his blood-alcohol level was .22 – and the fact that the murder was not premeditated, the defense and prosecution settled on the 21-year sentence before the hearing this morning.
Chavez went to a jury trial for the killing, but eventually plead guilty to murder on Jan. 9, Deputy District Attorney Joyce Ferris-Metcalf said. Chavez has been held in county jail since his arrest.
The only point of debate at the sentencing this morning came when Chavez’s defense attorney Damon Silva asked that the restitution Chavez was ordered to pay to several of Moss’s family members be reduced.
“This is a lot of money for my client,” Silva said.
Judge Murphy denied the request.
Moss’s parents were also at the hearing this morning, but they did not speak to the judge because of their lack of fluency in English. Moss’s teenage son attended the hearing as well, but he did not speak to the judge.
Chavez sat handcuffed in a red prison jump suit and never made eye contact with any members of Moss’s family when they spoke.
“This has hurt our entire family,” Ruiz said. “Mark was a dedicated father and brother, we all miss him so much.”
Before the 11:30 p.m. murder, Chavez had been drinking steadily since his afternoon shift ended at Indian Motorcycle. When Moss had asked Chavez to leave his home that evening, a brief verbal argument erupted before Chavez shot Moss, Ruiz said.
“After he shot Mark, he just stood there over him and tried to shoot him again, but the hammer wouldn’t work,” Ruiz said through tears. “Then he just stood there looking at him. It’s too much.”
