Photo: VALERIE MACON / AFP / Getty Images
Mauricio Eduardo Sánchez-Johnson , from 19 years, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the triple murder of his girlfriend of 16 years and their parents , when they surprised the couple in her room in intimate actions.
The prosecutors agreed on a draft sentence of 150 years in prison to life imprisonment, although the case would have its first parole hearing in 25 years, the county district attorney said of Humboldt.
Sánchez-Johnson killed Nikki Metcalf, 33, Margarett Moon, 40 and Shelly Autumn May Moon, who was not identified by the district attorney, on February 9 at her home in the Reserve’s Bear River Band Rohnerville Rancheria.
The adolescent entered the residence “with permission of several minors” who were living there, prosecutors said.
But when most of the house’s residents went to sleep, Metcalf’s stepfather entered the girl’s room and found Sánchez-Johnson naked with her , the prosecutor said in a statement.
The teens were getting “intimate” when Metcalf hit Sánchez-Johnson, who ran out of the room with his pants down, according to an arrest warrant cited by lawandcrime.com.
Once in the living room, Sánchez-Johnson pulled a gun from his backpack and shot Metcalf dead , as recorded in the warrant.
The teenager later shot his girlfriend “because he did not want to have witnesses.”
If the case went to trial, Sánchez-Johnson could to be sentenced to life in prison without parole, but the prosecutor’s office said in its statement that it considered several factors, including that “a trial would require the testimony of young people who have suffered a tragedy.”
The probable changes in the law of California were another reason cited.
“On the point about California law, juvenile offenders currently receive a parole hearing at their 25 th year of incarceration, unless they are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, “the DA statement said.
” California lawmakers seek to modify the parole eligibility of juvenile offenders, so that everyone has the right to a parole hearing regardless of their original sentence.
The sentence agreed with the defendant would be the maximum sentence he could receive if the law in question takes effect.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 21 January.
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