Plea deal in fatal shooting results in 5-year sentence

A Santa Rosa man who jurors twice failed to convict of a 2005 murder was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors.

Omar Chavez, 28, was accused of masterminding the slaying of 27-year-old Semere Girmai, also of Santa Rosa, during a confrontation in a Bennett Valley apartment.

Although another defendant, Ricardo Puentes, 32, is the suspected shooter, Chavez was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly arranging the killing in a dispute over drug turf. Puentes remains at large.

Jurors deadlocked over his guilt in two separate trials and prosecutors in October agreed to bring lesser charges rather than starting a third trial. Prosecutor Traci Carrillo said the case was hampered by unreliable witness statements and other evidence problems.

Now, Chavez, who was arrested in Florida about three years after the Jan. 15, 2005 killing, will be released within the next few months with credit for time already served.

At his sentencing hearing before Judge Ken Gnoss, members of Girmai's Eritrean-born family expressed frustration with the result.

"This is the saddest day, more than the day I lost my child," Girmai's grandfather, Hadish Tesfu, said through an interpreter.

"You have the killer in your hand," Tesfu said in court as Chavez looked on. "It's the responsibility of the court and the government to make him pay for what he did. And he's going to walk free."

Chavez responded that he did not kill Girmai, who he regarded as a friend. Chavez said he intended to patch up differences between the two the night he was killed.

The former Rancho Cotate High student with a long criminal record said he fled out of fear after he learned he would be charged with murder.

"Sometimes emotion can distort judgment," Chavez said.

Gnoss also attempted to console the victim's family. He said it was clear from the evidence that Puentes did the killing and he would be tried for murder if found. An autopsy showed Girmai was shot at close range, four times in the head and face and once in the chest.

Santa Rosa police detectives are continuing to look for Puentes, Carrillo said.