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Final defendant sentenced to 100 years for graduation eve, double-murder in Montgomery County Final defendant sentenced to 100 years for graduation eve double murder in Montgomery County
(about 4 hours later)
The fourth and final defendant accused of gunning down two Maryland teenagers on the eve of their high school graduation was sentenced to 100 years in prison Friday, concluding a long-running case that the presiding judge has said sent “a shock wave” through Montgomery County.The fourth and final defendant accused of gunning down two Maryland teenagers on the eve of their high school graduation was sentenced to 100 years in prison Friday, concluding a long-running case that the presiding judge has said sent “a shock wave” through Montgomery County.
Roger Garcia, 22, showed little emotion as Circuit Judge David Boynton imposed the term.Roger Garcia, 22, showed little emotion as Circuit Judge David Boynton imposed the term.
“They massacred these boys,” said Boynton, adding Garcia played a key role in the murders in which the victims were drawn into an ambush. “He is the one who set up this lure.” “They massacred two boys,” said Boynton, adding that Garcia played a key role in the murders by using social media to draw the teens into an ambush. “He’s the one that set up this lure.”
Under Maryland rules, Garcia will be eligible for possible release in about 50 years.Under Maryland rules, Garcia will be eligible for possible release in about 50 years.
Garcia and the three other defendants, according to trial evidence, lured the victims to a darkened cul-de-sac in Montgomery Village under the guise of buying an extra ticket to the teens’ graduation ceremony. The shooters instead fired at least 30 rounds at the boys. Garcia and the three others used Snapchat to feign interest in buying an extra graduation ceremony ticket that one of the victims, Shadi Najjar, 17, was looking to sell on the night of June 5, 2017.
The three others — Jose Canales-Yanez, 28, Rony Galicia, 27, and Edgar Garcia-Gaona, 26 — had earlier received three life sentences. All three were ordered to have no chance at parole. Najjar followed Garcia’s guidance to Gallery Court, a darkened cul-de-sac in Montgomery Village, pulling over along the street with his friend, Artem Ziberov, 18, in the passenger seat.
In court filings this week, Garcia’s attorney had asked for a sentence closer to 40 years. “He was the least culpable of the four,” the attorney, John Sharifi, wrote of Garcia. The gunmen, inside their own car, eased by the Honda unnoticed, according to court proceedings, before driving to the end of the cul-de-sac and circling back up to the Honda before getting out.
In filings of their own, prosecutors had countered that Garcia’s role was critical and he was one of the four shooters. They fired at least 30 gunshots at the teens in seven seconds — the sounds recorded by a nearby residential alarm system that was played in the trials.
“Devoid of empathy and a conscience,” is how Montgomery County prosecutors Marybeth Ayres and Jessica Hall described Garcia. “No rehabilitation can undo these deficiencies.” “Shock and awe is sort of the term that comes to mind,” Boynton said Friday. “It was completely quiet and silent and all of the sudden these shots rang out. It sounded like you were in a war zone.”
Maryland sentencing guidelines, which are not binding, recommended a term of 40 to 70 years. The three others in the case — Jose Canales-Yanez, 28, Rony Galicia, 27, and Edgar Garcia­Gaona, 26 — had been convicted on counts of conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree murder and gun offenses. They were also convicted of robbery, the final charge for stealing Najjar’s phone after shooting him. Boynton sentenced each of them to three life sentences and ordered that they never have a chance at parole.
In Garcia’s trial last month, he was acquitted of conspiracy and first-degree murder, an indication that jurors had doubts he planned the crimes or he ever formed the premeditated mind-set to commit them. Garcia also was acquitted of robbery. He was convicted of two counts of a lesser form of homicide — second­degree murder — and two gun counts.
His verdict exposed Garcia to a maximum of 100 years in prison. State sentencing guidelines, which are not binding, called for 40 to 70 years.
In court filings this week, Garcia’s attorney, John Sharifi, requested a sentence close to 40 years for Garcia. “He was the least culpable of the four,” Sharifi wrote.
In filings of their own, prosecutors had asked for the maximum of 100 years. “Devoid of empathy and a conscience,” was how Montgomery County prosecutors Marybeth Ayres and Jessica Hall described Garcia. “No rehabilitation can undo these deficiencies.”
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The victims, Shadi Najjar, 17, and Artem Ziberov, 18, were set to graduate from Northwest High School on June 6, 2017. The previous night, Najjar had an extra ticket to the ceremony and announced on the social media platform Snapchat that he wanted to sell it. The motive for the murder, according to evidence in the trials, dated back to December 2016.
But there was a lot going on in the background that night that Najjar did not know about. Najjar had arranged to purchase marijuana from a woman who happened to be the wife of Canales-Yanez, according to prosecutors. Rather than buy it, Najjar had snatched it without paying and driven over the woman’s foot as he fled, prosecutors said. She was not seriously injured, but the incident enraged Canales-Yanez, prosecutors said. He wanted to retaliate, according to court proceedings, and took his time doing so.
It traced back to six months prior, when Najjar had arranged to purchase marijuana from a woman who happened to be the wife of Canales-Yanez, according to prosecutors. Rather than buy it, Najjar had snatched it without paying and driven over the woman’s foot as he fled, prosecutors said. She was not seriously injured, but the incident enraged Canales-Yanez, prosecutors said. He wanted to retaliate, according to court proceedings, and took his time doing so.
One of his methods: asking his friend, Garcia, to connect to Najjar via Snapchat to monitor his activities.One of his methods: asking his friend, Garcia, to connect to Najjar via Snapchat to monitor his activities.
When Garcia saw Najjar’s posting about the ticket, he sent a text to Canales-Yanez about it, according to prosecutors. Suddenly, Canales-Yanez had his chance. The night of the shooting, Garcia saw Najjar’s posting selling the ticket. Garcia sent a text, flagging Canales-Yanez, according to prosecutors. Suddenly, Canales-Yanez had his chance.
That night, all four were inside a mobile home where Garcia lived, according to prosecutors, and plotted how to lure Najjar to his death. It was Garcia, prosecutors asserted, who used his Snapchat connection to send the actual messages feigning interest in the ticket and telling Najjar exactly where to meet. All four defendants were soon inside a mobile home where Garcia lived. But it was Garcia, prosecutors asserted, who used his Snapchat connection with Najjar to send messages feigning interest in buying the ticket.
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With Najjar that night was his friend Ziberov. There was no evidence linking Ziberov to the earlier botched marijuana sale. By 10:30 p.m., the two were sitting in Najjar’s idling Honda Civic, expecting to sell the ticket. There was no evidence at any of the trials linking Ziberov to the earlier botched marijuana sale.
Prosecutors said that as the killers eased by the Honda in their own car, they saw, unexpectedly, that Najjar had a passenger. They kept driving, around the circle at the end of the cul-de-sac, discussing what to do, according to prosecutors, before deciding to kill them both — Najjar for the revenge, his passenger to silence any potential witness. After drawing the teens to the neighborhood for the ambush, prosecutors said, the killers unexpectedly saw Najjar had a passenger. The men kept driving around the cul-de-sac, prosecutors asserted, and decided to kill both occupants in the Honda — Najjar for the revenge, his passenger to silence any potential witness.
At least 30 rounds were fired at the boys. Garcia’s attorney, Sharifi, had acknowledged Garcia was in the trailer with the others the night of the murder. But during the trial, he argued that Garcia never left the trailer and there were only three shooters.
There was a sharp difference between the verdicts handed down to the first three defendants and the verdict handed down to Garcia in his trial last month. In court Friday, Boynton said it was clear to him that Garcia and the other three all went to Gallery Court and all fired guns at the victims.
The first three were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of first-degree murder, making them eligible for the life terms. They were also convicted of gun charges and robbery, the latter count for stealing Najjar’s phone after shooting him. “There is no doubt from the circumstantial evidence in this case,” the judge said, “that there was four shooters at the scene of this crime and that Roger Garcia was one of them.”
Garcia was acquitted of conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder, an indication that jurors had doubts he planned the crimes or that he ever formed the premeditated mind-set to commit them. Garcia was convicted of two counts of a lesser form of homicide — second-degree murder — as well as two gun counts. He deplored the killers’ motive — revenge over a “fistful of marijuana.”
He was also acquitted of robbery. Sharifi said that is an indication the jury had doubts Garcia even left the trailer. “You can’t even measure,” Boynton said, “how inconsequential the event was in December of 2016 that would cause this kind of retaliation.”
In their filings, prosecutors stressed that it was Garcia who sent the Snapchat messages to Najjar that set up the ambush. And ballistics evidence at the murder scene, they wrote, put Garcia there along with the three other gunmen.
“He was also a shooter,” they wrote, “firing at least six shots at Shadi and Artem.”
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