Mejia receives life in prison
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Mejia's timeline September 1998: Convicted of aggravated robbery in Brazos County. Sentenced to five years in prison.
September 2006: Tried for Nueces County murder of FBI informant used against Texas Syndicate prison gang. Mejia acquitted of capital murder charges.
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Mejia's timeline September 1998: Convicted of aggravated robbery in Brazos County. Sentenced to five years in prison.
September 2006: Tried for Nueces County murder of FBI informant used against Texas Syndicate prison gang. Mejia acquitted of capital murder charges.
February 2007: Visits Victoria during trial of Texas Syndicate gang member. Police find Mejia with guns, drugs.
October 2007: While on bond for guns, drugs charges, kills Derrick Quintanilla.
March 2008: Sentenced to life in prison for possession as a felon of guns, drugs.
April 2008: Charged while in jail with Quintanilla's capital murder.
June: Trial begins in Quintanilla's murder. Juror claims he knows witnesses. Judge declares mistrial.
June: Police find weapon used to murder Quintanilla, link gun to Mejia.
Nov. 16: Second trial of Quintanilla's murder begins. Based on technicality, prosecutors change capital murder charge to engaged in criminal activity, murder.
Tuesday: Jury finds Mejia guilty of murdering Quintanilla while acting as gang member.
Wednesday: Judge Robert Cheshire sentences Mejia to life sentence stacked on top of March 2008 guns, drugs life sentence.
Letter from Mejia
Mejia submitted a letter to the Advocate on Wednesday. In it he accuses Tyler of prejudice. Tyler denies the allegation. To read the letter go to www.victoriaadvocate.com and click on this story.
Sebastian Mejia was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the October 2007 murder of a 17-year-old Victoria man.
District Judge Robert Cheshire needed less than an hour on Wednesday to determine Mejia's sentence: life in prison.
Mejia, a 30-year-old Texas Syndicate prison gang member, murdered Derrick Quintanilla in October 2007, a jury found Tuesday.
Throughout the trial, Danielle Quintanilla remained stoic in the courtroom, bubbly in the hallways and the glue of a family gathered to relive tragedy. The 20-year-old dropped her guard for only a moment.
"I am the sister of the boy who you murdered two years ago," she told Mejia during the victim impact statement portion of the trial. "To you, he was just a kid. But to me, he was a part of my soul."
She broke into tears, dropped her head and continued to read, her voice quivering.
"You've broken my heart. You took someone away from me who could make me happy and told me I was beautiful when I felt I wasn't," she said. "He was the kind of kid who tried to dance but couldn't. He was loud and silly. You took him away and there's no doubt in my mind."
During the punishment phase of Mejia's trial on Wednesday, lawyers painted the defendant with different brushes.
Defense lawyer Alex Luna said despite living among several foster families, Mejia graduated from high school and enlisted in the U.S. Marines. A jury in 1998 convicted him of aggravated robbery, and the Marines declined him.
"Sometimes people make bad decisions when they're kids," Luna said. "He had good intentions at one time. He was sidetracked in prison."
District Attorney Steve Tyler said the court shouldn't consider what Mejia could have been. "He could have been a good man," Tyler said. "He wasn't."
Tyler recounted Mejia's numerous convictions and detailed the cold-blooded manner in which the defendant killed Quintanilla. Mejia shot the teen in the face from close range.
"What's the appropriate price to put on that? The state would submit it be life in prison," Tyler said.
Cheshire agreed. The judge stacked Wednesday's life sentence on a March 2008 life sentence Mejia received for possession as a felon of guns and drugs. Mejia will spend all his time in single-cell confinement, isolated from the general population because he's a Texas Syndicate prison gang member.
After the trial, Tyler repeatedly praised the work of Victoria Police Det. Amanda Clemens, local law enforcement and others for their work in the case.
"This case wasn't possible without them," Tyler said.
Comments
You mean, it's good that VA finally printed the DA's quote about local law enforcement instead of leaving it out!
November 28, 2009 at 8:46 a.m.it's good to see that the DA finally had something good to say about local law enforcement!
November 28, 2009 at 8:24 a.m.Everyone is just seeing what the paper and the system wants them to see. Yall do not know Mejia!!!
November 27, 2009 at 9:05 p.m.Only GOD can jugde him!!!!! No matter what the system determined in the end it will only be him and GOD!!!!!!!!
Justice is served your right..I think Death Penalty should have been enforced..They said they didn't or wasn't going to see death penalty at beginning of trial..Well that little 17 year old child wasn't looking for death penalty either when the man shot him close range...Where is the justice really..
November 26, 2009 at 8:27 a.m.Justice is served. He got what he deserved, but that is still too good for him. Need to add AT HARD LABOR to the sentence.
November 26, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.