MURRIETA – A convicted felon who gunned down a San Jacinto man in an ambush-style attack stemming from bad blood between the men was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.
A Murrieta jury last month convicted Juan Javier Mejia of first-degree murder with a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait for the June 2013 shooting death of 23-year-old Ivan Ibarra Carrillo.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dennis McConaghy imposed the sentence required by law.
Mejia, 43, was apprehended near Mexico City on Feb. 20, 2015, after more than 18 months on the run. His co-defendant and half-brother, 26-year-old Abram Daniel Palacios, is still at large and facing the same charges.
According to court papers, Palacios allegedly wanted revenge against Carrillo because he believed the victim had orchestrated a home invasion robbery at his girlfriend’s house in October 2012.
The prosecution contended that Palacios had been looking for Carrillo for weeks. Mejia apparently volunteered to act as the hit man, later telling sheriff’s investigators that he had control of both handguns used to carry out the killing, according to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office.
When Palacios got word that Carrillo was in his neighborhood, only a block away, late on the afternoon of June 6, 2013, the defendant picked up Mejia in his girlfriend’s four-door Honda Accord, and the pair allegedly set off to find the victim’s Ford Excursion, court papers state.
Within minutes, they encountered the Excursion heading northbound on Las Rosas Drive, where the defendants allegedly pulled directly into the larger vehicle’s path at the intersection of Las Rosas and Osprey Street, forcing Carrillo to stop, according to prosecutors.
Witnesses alleged that Mejia jumped out of the Honda and immediately opened fire with a .40 caliber pistol, expending 14 rounds, several of which struck the victim in the upper body. Mejia told detectives that when he ran out of bullets, he returned to the car and retrieved a 9mm handgun, then walked to the driver’s side window of the Excursion and fired two shots at point-blank range, striking Carrillo in the face and head. Prosecutors said that the victim was holding up his hands in an attempt to shield himself from the bullets.
The defendants sped away, and Carrillo died at the scene.
Palacios allegedly admitted to his girlfriend that evening that he and Mejia had gunned down Carrillo, and that the two men were planning to flee south of the border.
Less than two weeks later, sheriff’s detectives located Mejia’s ex-wife and four children, residing in an apartment on Sunrise Way in Palm Springs. The woman, whose identity was not released, revealed that the defendants had appeared at her residence on the night of June 18 and left three hours later.
An investigator said when he called Mejia’s mobile phone, the defendant “stated he was already in Mexico,” according to court documents.
Mejia has prior convictions for rape, assault with intent to commit rape and burglary. Palacios has prior misdemeanor convictions for illegal possession of a controlled substance, making criminal threats and domestic abuse, according to court documents.
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