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Norma Elizalde |
S. P. man sentenced for involvement in death of innocent bystander Elizalde
November 20, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A Santa Paula man was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years in prison for his involvement in a gang altercation that escalated into gunfire that killed a local woman at her nearby home.
Norma Elizalde, 40, died almost instantly after she was struck by a stray bullet in the neck in the March 29, 2014 shooting that occurred midday outside her High Street home.
Valente Tobias, 23, was sentenced by Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Hirsch after pleading guilty in October to charges related to the shooting; Tobias was not in possession of a gun during the incident.
According to prosecutors, Tobias, a document gang member and Ernesto Marron Jr., 22, also a member of a Santa Paula gang, were walking near High and 12th streets about 1 p.m. when Mark James Martinez, 32, drove up in a vehicle and confronted the two, who were gang rivals.
A verbal argument quickly escalated into violence with Martinez and Marron exchanging gunfire.
While her brother was out front of the family compound doing yard work a bullet from Martinez’s handgun went through a front window of the house, traveled through several rooms and then struck Elizalde, who was on the back porch.
Tobias initially faced a murder charge but pleaded guilty last month to a felony count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, with a special allegation that he acted in the furtherance of a gang.
On November 17 Judge Hirsh dismissed the murder charge and other special allegations after sentencing Tobias, who remained silent throughout the sentencing, to 11 years in a state prison.
Public Defender Thomas Hartnette told the court Tobias regretted what happened, understood that although unarmed he had participated in the incident and was sorry for Elizalde’s death.
“At the last minute I decided to go,” to the sentencing Irma Ramos, Elizalde’s fraternal twin sister, said later.
Accompanied by her boyfriend George Sempertegui, Ramos was the only family member in court and said of Tobias’ sentence, “He got the maximum, 11 years…and the attorney did say on his behalf that he was sorry,” to be involved in the incident of her much shorter sister whom Ramos always affectionately called “Little Turtle.”
The shooting outraged the community already reeling from an unprecedented series of homicides, nine killings that occurred in 2013 and 2014.
It is believed that the death of Elizalde was the first homicide of an innocent bystander in the city.
“As a family we’re trying to keep each other unified…I, even though the oldest sister, am struggling to keep it together and appreciate my younger brother Flavio,” that drives from San Bernardino every weekend “To visit with us and check up on us.”
Ramos said she “Appreciates and bless my dad and my brother Nicholas,” still residents of Santa Paula.
But although always close, the “Loss and emptiness is constant,” and, noted Ramos, “I have to tell myself it’s going to be okay. It’s been over a year but it could have been yesterday,” when as she left the house she heard Norma’s 15-year-old son scream.
“I struggle with the vision and the fear,” as her sister died in her arms, and the whole family is dealing with the still difficult aftermath.
In court Tuesday, Ramos did not make a victim’s impact statement: “There was no need to…I just hope the time he (Tobias) is away he changes his life and realizes what he’s doing is just going to cause more pain, more chaos and more grief. I hope he uses his time to think and change his life…he ruined many lives, including his own.”
Marron remains in Ventura County Jail after pleading guilty March 20 to the same charges Tobias admitted; Marron also could be sentenced to the maximum 11 years in prison.
Martinez has been charged with murder and is scheduled to appear in court December 11 for a pretrial conference. He also is facing special allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing death and that he killed someone while participating on behalf of a criminal street gang.
