Document text
Man gets probation for 2015 gang shooting Juan Ramon Hernandez Wednesday Jan 17, 2018 at 5:52 PM Jan 17, 2018 at 6:23 PM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat A man caught with a stolen gun in November during a homicide investigation was sentenced to probation Wednesday for his role in a 2015 west Medford gang shooting in which no one was injured. Juan Ramon Hernandez, 24, was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Jackson County Circuit Court for plotting an attack against rival gang member Santiago Flores-Loveland and firing a gun at him in 2015, as well as for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Hernandez admitted that he conspired with Luis Ortega-Arechiga and Jose Guadalupe Hernandez to attack Flores-Loveland in the 1400 block of Dakota Avenue on June 30, 2015, firing a handgun that lodged a bullet in the siding of a neighboring home. Ortega-Arechiga pleaded guilty in the case in 2016, while Jose Hernandez has had a warrant out for his arrest after failing to appear in court. In court Wednesday, Juan Hernandez said little except to express interest in treating a drug problem and getting his children back by enrolling in OnTrack's Dads Program. "I think he's serious about this as the last criminal episode," said Zachary Light, his court-appointed defense lawyer. Deputy District Attorney Marco Boccato said prosecutors typically seek prison time for gang-related shootings, but in this case a "dearth of physical evidence" and less-than-cooperative witnesses jeopardized any conviction at all. "There were a lot of challenges in the prosecution of this case," Boccato said. "Santiago was obviously not very cooperative." Hernandez has been lodged in the Jackson County Jail since Nov. 22, records show, after Medford police found him in possession of a revolver flagged as stolen while investigating a Chestnut Street homicide that killed 23-year-old Christian Miguel Barajas. The homicide case is unrelated to Hernandez's shooting, police said. The gun violated terms of Hernandez's probation on a prior methamphetamine-possession conviction, as well as terms of his pretrial release in the shooting case. Hernandez told police he'd secured the handgun because of a gang-related shooting outside his home in the 1100 block of Dakota Avenue two days prior to the homicide, court documents say. Circuit Judge Lisa Greif sentenced Hernandez to 30 days' jail with credit for time served after accepting his guilty pleas on charges of attempted first-degree assault and conspiring to commit third-degree assault, and for being a felon in possession of a weapon. Hernandez served about six months in jail awaiting trial before his release in the shooting case, and about 55 days for the firearms case, Light said in court. Flores-Loveland remains lodged in the Jackson County Jail on felony charges of attempted first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, along with five misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person for the Nov. 20 shooting outside Hernandez's home in the 1100 block of Dakota Avenue. A trial set for this week for Flores-Loveland was canceled. Court records show he is set to change his plea in a Friday hearing. — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.