FRESNO -- FRESNO -- A Sanger man likely will spend the rest of his life in prison for the shooting and kidnapping of a Fresno Bee carrier eight years ago.
In a Tuesday morning hearing, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jane Cardoza upheld the conviction of Tannen Soojian, 36.
After the motion for a new trial was rejected, Cardoza sentenced Soojian to prison for 10 years for robbery; to two terms of 25 years to life with the possibility of parole for kidnapping with the intent to commit robbery; and to 25 years to life for using a gun and causing great bodily injury.
The lawyer for Soojian had argued that there was juror misconduct and legal errors in Soojian's second trial. But Cardoza said those errors were not intentional.
Soojian was convicted at his first trial for the kidnapping and assault of Joyce Ahumada while she was on a delivery route with her son April 18, 2004, east of Clovis. Soojian shot Ahumada in the chest.
Prosecutor Lynmarc Jenkins said Soojian stalked Ahumada and her son.
"Mr. Soojian is a monumental danger to society," Jenkins said.
There were letters from relatives and acquaintances attesting to Soojian's improved character and efforts at being a good father while behind bars.
But Jenkins said they didn't know him the way his victims did. "The people who knew him best saw him on that night," Jenkins said. "He deserves every millisecond he has earned."
Ahumada thanked the judge for rejecting the motion for a third trial. She said Soojian should never be released because he will do the same thing to someone else.
She said he approached her and her son "very nicely." She thought he was asking for directions but he "instantly turned into a violent predator." Ahumada said she thought it was a horrible dream and begged Soojian to release her and her son, telling him that she was a widow.
"He just had a look on his face that said, 'Shut up and do what I say,' " she said. "I feared we were going to be murdered." She said she managed to escape with her son, but she was shot in the chest.
"My life is not ruined, but it will never be the same," she said. "The pain and suffering will never go away."
In 2009, the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno said Fresno County Superior Court Judge James Quaschnick didn't properly review new evidence that showed another man could have attacked the carrier.
That resulted in a second trial -- and new guilty verdicts. But jurors in the second trial were unable to reach a verdict on an attempted murder charge, and they found Soojian not guilty of assaulting Ahumada's then-teenage son.
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