A man who played a supporting role in the attempted murder of a woman in Santa Ana and the killing of another woman whose body was dumped in Newport Beach the same day has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Jaime Prieto Rocha, who testified in the trial of co-defendant Irvin Tellez, 27, pleaded guilty Sept. 4 to voluntary manslaughter. Prosecutors dismissed a murder charge against the 42-year-old defendant during Friday’s court proceedings.
Tellez was convicted Sept. 29 of first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic weapon and street terrorism charges.
Jurors also found true sentencing enhancements for the use of a firearm, inflicting great bodily harm and committing the crimes to benefit a gang, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson.
Tellez, who is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20, faces a maximum of 112 years and eight months to life behind bars.
Rocha pleaded guilty for his part in the Sept. 2, 2013, shooting death of 28-year-old Nancy Hammour of Santa Ana.
Rocha was driving when Tellez shot a 31-year-old woman in the street in Santa Ana — the same day Hammour’s body was later found — because she signaled an allegiance to a rival gang, Mendelson said. The shooting victim survived her gunshot wounds.
Hammour, who was in the car with the two men when the other woman was shot, got “hysterical,” so Tellez shot her, as well, the prosecutor said.
Rocha took the rental car in which Hammour was killed to Mexico, where he got into an accident, prompting him to return to the U.S. to get another vehicle, Mendelson said.
When police traced a license plate to the rental car company, employees told detectives Rocha was with a car that was broken down in Oceanside, where the defendant was arrested, Mendelson said.
Hammour was a drug dealer who was indicted by a federal grand jury in a massive local, state and federal crackdown on Mexican Mafia gangs in Orange County dubbed “Operation Smokin’ Aces.”
Her body was found under the Bay Bridge in Newport Beach on Labor Day in 2013.