Swayed by a former jail informant’s work in helping to take down the Mexican Mafia’s top two Orange County leaders, a judge Friday handed down a 21-year term in a gun possession case in which the snitch had faced 40 years to life behind bars because of his criminal record.
Fernando Jose Perez, 34, was facing a potential life sentence as a so-called third striker, but Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett granted a defense request to drop two of the three strikes from Perez’s record in the sentencing of this case.
Perez was given credit for 5,005 days, or nearly 14 years, behind bars since his arrest in 2007 on the gun possession charge. As a felon, Perez was prohibited from possessing a gun.
What was unclear was how much more time Perez must do. If officials determine his conviction does not fall under the list of crimes considered “violent,” then he could be out in half the time he has left, but he would otherwise have to serve 85 percent of the time behind bars.
Perez is in a federal witness protection program and will be given a new identity.
Last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe McNally told Prickett that Perez’s work as an informant in two major operations aimed at cracking down on jail violence helped convince Mexican Mafia leader Armando Moreno to plead guilty and testify against Peter Ojeda, who ran the gang in Orange County. Ojeda was convicted at trial and is awaiting sentencing in May.
Prickett noted that Perez earned his high school equivalency degree in jail and took part in other educational programs, and his family continues to support him. But what was “especially persuasive” was McNally’s advocacy last week, Prickett said.
A 40-year-to-life sentence would violate the spirit of the three-strikes law in this case, the judge said.
But Prickett would not set aside all of Perez’s strikes so he could be essentially sentenced to time served because the defendant has a history of violating terms of probation and served a prison sentence before he got in trouble again with the gun-possession charge in Stanton in 2007.
After the hearing, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders criticized the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for helping Perez get a break by remaining silent on the defendant’s perjury during his own trial and his activities as an alleged shot caller in jail who helped decide who would be beaten up or killed for violating Mexican Mafia rules.
Prosecutors insisted during legal proceedings against Sanders’ client Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history, that Perez, who snitched on Dekraai, would not get a benefit for his cooperation, the public defender said.
“Did he (Perez) get consideration for his work in the Dekraai case? Absolutely,” Sanders said. “This shows we were right all along.”
District attorney’s officials helped Perez by “sitting on their hands” and not telling Prickett everything they knew about Perez, Sanders said.
Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, told City News Service that Perez was rewarded for his work with federal authorities, not state prosecutors.
McNally assured Prickett last week that Perez was given no promises of benefits other than telling the judge about his work as an informant.
Schroeder noted “there’s absolutely no record of (Perez) ordering the murders of certain people. There’s no evidence to support any of Sanders’ broken record of criticizing the District Attorney’s Office. If he’s going to engage in name calling, then he needs to do it based on the evidence, not on his made-up accusations.”
Prickett noted during the sentencing hearings for Perez going back to August that he was aware of the defendant’s work as an informant for state prosecutors, Schroeder said. She also pointed out that state prosecutors never intended to use Perez as a witness against Dekraai.
Attempts by defense attorneys to find out more about Perez in the Dekraai case led Sanders to file a legal motion that was more than 500 pages long, alleging widespread governmental misconduct in the handling of informants.
It prompted Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals to ultimately disqualify the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting Dekraai, a ruling that is under appeal.
Perez helped identify about 30 gang members who were targeted with death or assaults, his handler, Special Agent Anthony Garcia, told Prickett last week. About six or seven of those gang members were on “hard candy” lists, meaning other gang members were tasked with trying to kill them, Garcia said.
Last week, Perez told Prickett that he was “deeply, sincerely sorry” for anyone he hurt because of his gang-related activities.
“I am no longer the person I was when I was involved in the gang life,” he said.
Perez begged for mercy so that he could reunite with his family and three children.
“It’s been nine years since I’ve held my children,” he said.
Perez, who often choked up during his statement to the judge, assured Prickett that “I spend each and every day determining how to make myself a better man.”
One of his jobs in custody is working in the kitchen, and he recounted how one day he was asked if he would like to try his hand at baking. Eventually, he was appointed the “number one baker,” Perez said.
“I know how trivial that might sound to some,” Perez said. But he said he was proud of the achievement, given his background.
“When I ran with a gang, I thought I was a man,” he said. “I know now I was not a real man then.”
Perez said if he is given a chance to be freed from custody, “I will make you all proud of me.”
— City News Service