A 48-year-old man who served 11 years in prison for the shooting of a 19-year-old in Santa Ana in 1994 was behind bars Thursday to face an upgraded charge of murder because the victim died 15 years later.
Giovanny Edgar Sanchez was deported to Guatemala after being released from prison in 2006 for his part in the shooting of Scott Sittler, who died from his wounds in February 2009. Prosecutors have been seeking his extradition from Guatemala since a warrant was issued for him in 2009.
Sanchez was booked into Orange County Jail on Tuesday and was scheduled for arraignment on Thursday. Sanchez is charged with murder and street terrorism with sentencing enhancements for gang activity and being armed with a gun in the commission of a felony, according to court records.
Sanchez’s brother, Edwin Johnny Sanchez, 45, was sentenced in January 2012 to 29 years to life for Sittler’s killing.
Edwin Sanchez pleaded guilty in 1996 to attempted murder for the shooting of Sittler, whose spinal cord was severed, leaving him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life.
Edwin Sanchez was denied parole for five years in April 2019.
Daniel Paul Cruz, 45, pleaded guilty in April 2013 to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Cruz pleaded guilty to the shooting in 1996 and was sentenced then to nine years in prison, but landed back in prison to serve a 23-year sentence in June 2003 for armed robbery.
Sittler’s relationship with Giovanny Sanchez’s longtime girlfriend, Stephanie Martinez, fueled a confrontation that led to the shooting, Edwin Sanchez’s attorney, Robert Hartmann, said in 2012 at his client’s sentencing. Giovanny Sanchez and Martinez had three sons together.
When Martinez left Giovanny Sanchez, taking their three sons with her, he suspected Sittler had something to do with it, Hartmann said. The three defendants and Sittler were in rival gangs, Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller said in 2012.
The Sanchez brothers and Cruz ran into Sittler at Madison Avenue and Minnie Street in Santa Ana and confronted him, Hartmann said.
Sittler laughed at and taunted Giovanny Sanchez, provoking the shooting, Hartmann said.