A Mendocino Coast boy who was just 14 when he was charged as an adult for murder was sentenced Friday to 10 years in a state juvenile correctional facility.
That's less time than Marcos Escareno, now 17, might have served had he been charged as a juvenile for slaying Enoc Cruz.
Escareno will be free by the time he's 24, a year earlier than the maximum age to which he could have been incarcerated as a juvenile.
Escareno's family was relieved by the sentence.
"Prayers do help," said his aunt, Debra Logan. At least a dozen family members attended the boy's hearing.
No one from the 22-year-old victim's family could attend the sentencing. Most of Cruz's family live in Mexico.
His uncle, Gustav Cruz, had urged the court to impose the longest possible sentence during the first phase of the hearing two weeks ago.
"Keep killers where they belong," he told Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Ron Brown.
Escareno pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and using a gun to kill Cruz on the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria in February 2007. He faced a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison for the plea. Had he been convicted of murder, Escareno would have faced 50 years to life in prison.
Brown said Friday that Escareno's age and lack of maturity were factors he considered in making his decision to hand down the mid-term sentence. The judge said he also considered the apparent pre-meditation of the slaying.
Escareno stashed a rifle in some bushes outside his sister's home before killing her estranged boyfriend, Brown said. When Cruz arrived at Escareno's sister's home, the boy shot the unarmed man three times as he sat in his van, law officials said.
Cruz allegedly had threatened to harm Escareno's sister and her children, Brown noted.
District Attorney Meredith Lintott said she's disappointed Brown did not impose the maximum sentence. However, she said it was difficult to gauge what's appropriate, given Escareno's age at the time. Few killers are that young, so there are not many cases to study to determine when they're safe to release back into society, she said. Even fewer are charged as adults when they're 14, the earliest age allowed under California law.
When tried as juveniles, children can be held no longer than their 25th birthdays.
Escareno's attorney, Katharine Elliott, said the case should never have been in adult court. She unsuccessfully petitioned to have it moved to juvenile court.
She also said Escareno, who has a low IQ, was incompetent to stand trial.
"For this child to end up in the adult system with his level of understanding and various emotional issues would be a catastrophe," Elliott said.
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