OAKLAND — An East Palo Alto man was sentenced June 7 to four years in state prison after pleading no contest to participating in a home invasion robbery where one of his cohorts was shot and killed someone in the home.
Gerardo Landa-Sandoval, 22, had been charged with murder under the provocative act theory, which says that a participant in a crime can be held liable when the victim kills one of the responsible parties in self-defense. But the murder count was dropped as part of the plea agreement, and Landa-Sandoval’s attorney argued the facts simply didn’t justify a murder charge.
The hectic and chaotic robbery occurred on March 10, 2021, when Landa-Sandoval, 19-year-old Carlos Eduardo Contreras-Reyna, 22-year-old Lajon Harris, and a fourth person whose identity is unknown went to the Mosaic Apartments in Fremont to rob a specific unit, according to police. There were six people in the home, at least one of whom was armed. Details only get more unclear from there.
According to police, Contreras-Reyna was shot multiple times and quickly died from his injuries. The apartment’s residents gave conflicting accounts, naming different shooters, and some flat out refused to speak with police altogether.
The man believed to be Contreras-Reyna’s killer denied having a gun or that the shooting occurred in the apartment — contrary to physical evidence at the scene — but his brother allegedly told his boss that he’d killed someone during the robbery, authorities said.
“The DA should hever have prosecuted this as a murder,” said Annie Beles, an attorney representing Landa-Sandoval. “Gerardo has taken responsibility. I am hopeful for his success in life.”
Harris, a onetime Stockton resident with a listed address in East Palo Alto, is still wanted in connection with the incident.
Police have not publicly revealed just what the robbers hoped to find inside the apartment.
Source: www.mercurynews.com