Gang member gets 110 years for shooting 6-year-old boy

A gang member was sentenced to 110 years in prison after pleading guilty to shooting a 6-year-old boy as the child's family drove through a Harbor Gateway neighborhood last year, prosecutors said.

Ernesto Murillo, 26, pleaded guilty in March to three counts of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a firearm and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle in connection with the shooting.

Murillo also admitted to all gun and gang allegations. Prosecutors said Laverya Elzy was shot in the head. Five adults and two other children in the vehicle were not hurt.

In March 2008, the victim's family drove to Harbor Gateway to buy a car. As the family drove past Murillo on 227th Street, he made a gang sign with his hand and opened fire on the SUV, prosecutors said. Murillo fired several rounds, striking the car twice. One round shattered the vehicle's back windshield, striking Laverya.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[Pablo]

Only 110 years?

[James Phillips]

Probably was an illegal alien as well. Now we have to feed and house him for the rest of his life. Why not just give hime a lethal injection and get it over with?

[dontmatta]

he's gonna get what's coming to him in prison for the rest of his life.

[Bob]

Bye-bye, punk.

[Zinc Oxide]

So now the taxpayers foot the bill for the rest of this useless life? E X E C U T E this waste of skin.

[Robert]

Great, now we have to foot the bill for this guy's incarceration for that long, where he'll be able to direct street crimes from inside his cell? Just execute him. Who are we trying to be?

[Mike Stevens]

So did the kid live or die? What's his condition? Prognosis?

[Louweegie272]

This is yet another Latino on African American Hate Crime.
Why is this not written into the article?

[KK]

110 years? Who is footing the prison cost. Execution is cheaper.

[David]

Then you wonder why our state and county is broke.

Waste this trash.

Desprate times ask for desprate measures.

[aaron]

there needs to be some kind of fast-track mechanism for the death penalty for cold blooded murders like ernesto murillo. the cost of many years of incarceration to the taxpayer is asking tooo much, fast track him onto death penalty within 6 months!!! the taxpayers save money, hes not out committing other crimes, hes not in prison committing crimes...its a win win for the taxpayer. six month fast track penalty.

[Walt]

Another hardworking Mexican the liberals in this state love so much.. if it where a white person it would be a hate crime, time for the liberals in this state to eat their own crow

[DeniseDenise]

He must have made a deal to avoid execution.

We need Texas Justice for cases like this; they've carried out 16 since the beginning of the year

.http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/number-executions-state-and-region-1976

[ganeth8r]

Apparently they haven't set up the shooting ranges around the prisons yet; moving targets, stationary targets all one could ask for. Nice hi-power distance shot would take care of the whole mess, OR A NUKE!

[Renee]

To all those racists and xenophobic readers - just because someone has a Spanish sounding surname does not make them illegal or Mexican. My last name is Spanish but I was born and raised in California (as were my parents and grandparents) and am as American as apple pie. People like Murillo do deserve to rot in hell rather than in prison and waste our tax dollars, but I think it's a ridiculous oversimplification to say that this is the only reason why the state is broke.

[Van]

For Mike Stevens:
Cooper said her son still has a bullet lodged in his brain, but is recovering at home. She did not elaborate on what effect the bullet has had on him.

[Micah]

what does this have to do with Liberals? Idiot.

[Ray]

ALL gang members are a waste! They do NOTHING for this world.. I say we take them all and dump them in the middle of the desert.... screw the ACLU

[AnothergunowningLiberal]

The Liberals are to blame? Hysterical shrieking Liberals are fun to laugh at on T.V., but are they really the problem here Walt?

Whining, slightly-pudgy loser white male Republicans like yourself are at least as much fun to make fun of mostly because you get so bent out of shape when you're crying and whining about some great injustice. Must be tough living in the richest most powerful country in the world (even in a severe [caused by deregulation and other Republican policies] recession).

Taxes! Gays getting married (the horror)! Liberals! And my new personal favorite:
Racism against white men! The Inhumanity! Help! Help!

Will you whiners ever get over being Losers?

[aaron]

Hey James Phillips, fast track 6 month dealth penalty, regardless if they are citizens, pending immigration or illegal aliens, after they are executed shipping back to they families here if they are legal, fi not then to thier country of origin with a bill for the cost.... another alternative could be that thier family could pay for the full cost of yearly incarceration approximately $50,000 yearly here in California if they want to keep them alive...let the families of these convicted cold blooded killer pay for them...it has now become too much of a burden for the taxpayers to pay for incerations, especially for murders who dont contribute to society.

[j-Dub]

Cell him up with a 250LB African-American lifer whose done nothing but lift weights during his incarceration.

[stupidpeopleagain]

oh you stupid jewish people. where in the article does it say he is illegal or Mexican? Try reading next time before making assumptions you fools. plus who said the boy was black?

[Josh]

Of course this is not a hate crime. Why can't everyone just recognize that all of the Blacks getting shot by Latinos are all part of random isolated incidents having nothing to do with skin color and racism. No, see, if the gang member really hated blacks then he would have killed the kid, but the kid ended up living, so the shooter couldn't have hated blacks all that much. What a joke. I bet all these politically correct city officials think that people are braindead and buy into the 'gang-related' shooting BS. Until these Latino gangsters diversify their portfolio and start expanding the ethnicities of their shooting victims beyone blacks, then let's just call it what it is: racially motivated violence and intimidation. Now the taxpayers have to help house this idiot for the next 110 years. Here's a better idea: let's allow the kid to shoot Murillo in the head and see if he likes it. It would be a simple case of 1st grade-related violence.

[Marie]

What a waste of life!! A piece of human trash!! Is his family proud of him now? What an outstanding job his parents did in raising a productive son. I hope he rots in prison!!!!

[Gangs are for Losers]

At least it's good to know that he won't be on the streets no more. Another stupid gang-banger off the streets. Good!

[Dave]

The reason we don't have fast tracked death penalty is because sometimes the wrong person is convicted (even if that person has confessed). When the state is killing someone it's in all of our best interests to make sure we know that he's guilty.

And we have no one to blame but ourselves for both the skyrocketing costs of our prison system and our state's budget problems. We voted for both. The real problem is the Proposition system.

Interesting point on the Latino/Black hate crime.

[Nils]

As a very proud LIBERAL i am more than happy to let this one fry , Walt .

[Marcos El Malo]

1) People that try to make this an immigration issue are mentally ill.

2) The argument that the death penalty is cheaper than life incarceration is wrong. If you want to save taxpayer money, life imprisonment is the way to go.

3) Again, following the economic argument that so many are quick to make (while being in error), the prosecution made a judgement call that saved the taxpayer not just the cost of the trial, since the defendant pled guilty, but the cost of the penalty phase and likely appeals.

4) This doesn't mean that there are not good reasons for the death penalty nor cases when we must demand it. It just means that people making the economic argument for it are clueless.

[Unbelievable]

Those Hispanics who think intimidation tactics work on African-Americans should think again. We do not scare easily , and will not be ran out by you or any other racial group. Oh, ....I know a place where you'd get along with "all" of your neighbors, MEXICO! Give that a try.....

[Ed A]

He's already sentenced so that he's not in regular society anymore. Why maintain him in prison society? Our prisons are overcrowded and we don't have enough money to go around right now. He's EARNED the death penalty. I vote the sooner, the better.

[Louweegie272]

How can immigration NOT be an issue? Jamiel Shaw was murdered in a hate crime by an illegal alien gang banger who was released from prison the day before. Had he been deported instead of being turned loose on Los Angeles. Jamiel would still be alive. The Times did not report the shooters' immigration status for some reason?

[ES TORRANCE]

Lets get the facts straight...
This WAS NOT a hate crime...
No racially charged words, ethnic words, nothing was said and/or used...

ESxT is beefing with a black gang in harbor city and this family happened to be drving by and they were from LA and had members from a LA gang that drove by and flashed their gang sign at Ernesto Murillo...

Thinking they were from harbor city he shot at the car...
It was straight gang vs gang..
Unfortunately, the little kid was hit...

He is going to pay for his crime but lets not jump to conclusions about illegal immigrants and racism when that has no relevance in this case...

[ES TORRANCE]

Again you cannot compare this and Jamiel Shaw case. No one EVER used racist language during these two crimes. It was straight gang on gang. Jamiel Shaw was a "claimer" claiming a local blood gang that is actively engaged in a war w/ a local mexican gang. His myspace and everything else showed him throwing signs, wearing red, talking the talk. Unfortunately he thought claiming was something funny and he paid for it w/ his life...

Same thing here. What no one reports is one of the passengers in this family car is a known gang member that threw signs towards the ESxT gang member. If you are going to challenge a gang member, THEN expect a gang members response. Unfortunately the little kid was hit and this is sad and not right, but the family knows what really is going on. This has nothing to due w/ immigration. Most if not all gang bangers in LA are born and raised here. NO mexicans fresh from the border come here and want to gang bang. Most illegals come here for a better life, to work, send $$$ back to Mexico, and want their families to follow. They cant even speak english and barely know they way around the city and you think they can get a gun and start acting like something they know nothing of?? One more thing, most of the gangs in LA are established and well known throughout the years, you think they would let in some border brother that doesnt know anything or speaks any english?? Yea right, anyone claiming that has NO dealings w/ how gangs actually work...

Get real...

[missing linq]

as i read these comments about racial tensions and gang violence it brings me to this conclusion.i coach youth sports and i tell the parents durig football,once you put on the uniform certain things are for sure.you will get hit and be expected to hit.there is a thin but blurry line between association and affilliation,and if your child dress the part and act the part sorry people they will one day be banged on or harrassed by the police.unfortunately this isnt a game so the rules of engagment do not exist.

[107gxxve]

the mexican people surport this act 100 percent..they can pretend to care but they dont..am not crying like other blacc folks on here i rather take action..ill be around that harbor gateway area real soon...BELIEVE THAT

[donell]

It's over y'all all these mexicans gang members and illegals are on the way to turning our cities all over the country into a terrible violent disgusting place to live for the decent and common folk.