SANTA CLARA (BCN) — In a move prosecutors said was highly unusual, a Vacaville man who allegedly shot another man over drugs in a Santa Clara motel room on Friday pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday afternoon.
Merlin Jones, 25, insisted on entering the plea, ignoring Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Socrates Manoukian’s advice to hold off until a future court date.
“This makes me really sick,” Manoukian said.
Jones is facing a life sentence for charges of second-degree robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Michael Gadeberg said.
Because Jones will be tried with his cousin and co-defendant, 38-year-old Calvin Templecastrillo, of Santa Clara, the court entered a not guilty plea on Templecastrillo’s behalf.
Templecastrillo is facing a shorter sentence of up to nine years for the same charges because he is not believed to have personally shot the gun.
According to a statement of facts filed by Santa Clara police Detective Nicholas Richards, Templecastrillo and the 52-year-old victim were using narcotics in the victim’s room at the Capri Motel on Friday.
Templecastrillo texted Jones to tell him that the victim had large quantities of Xanax and OxyContin.
Jones texted back, telling Templecastrillo to “Take it all,” to which Templecastrillo replied, “I can’t alone, too much” and sent Jones the victim’s room number, according to Richards.
Templecastrillo let Jones into the victim’s room when he arrived and said that Jones shot the victim once in the lower torso and took something from the room, possibly drugs, before fleeing.
Templecastrillo remained at the motel and was arrested after the shooting was reported around 7:47 p.m. The motel was briefly evacuated, police said.
In a Mirandized statement, Templecastrillo told police that he had set up a drug deal between Jones and the victim.
The victim was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery for internal trauma, Richards said. He is in serious but stable condition and is expected to survive, police said Wednesday morning.
The victim told a police officer in the ambulance that he did not know the man who shot him, that Templecastrillo had invited Jones to the motel room and that when he was leaving the bathroom, Jones had pistol-whipped him several times and then pointed a gun at his face.
The victim believed Jones was trying to steal a few hundred dollars from his wallet and that he intended to shoot him in the face when he fired the gun at him, Richards said.
The victim told police that he believed the defendants had conspired to steal his money.
Jones was arrested in Redwood City on Sunday and taken to the Santa Clara Police Department, where he said that he had been involved in a drug deal with Templecastrillo and the victim.
Jones claimed that the victim had tried to steal his backpack and pulled a gun on him, but Jones fought the gun away from the victim, pistol-whipped him once and then shot him once in the stomach area in self-defense, Richards said.
A readiness hearing for Jones and Templecastrillo is scheduled for April 13. Their preliminary hearing will take place on April 17.