SANTA CRUZ COUNTY (BCN) — Three people were sentenced Friday for a 2013 shooting in Live Oak that left a woman permanently blind and injured a man, according to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
Damian Axel Herrera, Juan Manuel Castillo and Giavanna Hagio had pleaded guilty late last year to a shooting that happened in the area of 30th Avenue and Brommer Street on April 19, 2013, prosecutors said.
When deputies responded to the scene that day they found the woman shot in the face and a male victim who was injured, according to prosecutors.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office arrested the three defendants six months after the shooting, prosecutors said.
The blinded woman, who spoke during the sentencing hearing, was a real estate agent and property manager, according to prosecutors.
The shooting left her legally blind and as a result she cannot work or drive, prosecutors said.
Herrera and Castillo had both pleaded guilty to attempted murder, mayhem and gang enhancements, according to prosecutors.
Herrera also pleaded guilty to personal discharge of a firearm and was sentenced to 35 years in state prison, prosecutors said.
Castillo was given an eight-year sentence while Hagio was sentenced to four years for being an accessory after the fact with a gang enhancement, prosecutors said.
Both men apologized to the blinded woman during the sentencing hearing for the pain she suffered, prosecutors said.
“Sadly no amount of time in prison for the defendants can give the victim back what was taken from her,” Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Johanna Schonfield said in a statement.
“This incident involved a completely senseless act of violence which will impact the victim for the rest of her life,” Schonfield said.