Atwater gang member guilty of killing two teens in 2013, jury says

The Atwater man accused of killing two teenagers at a house party during Easter weekend in 2013 was convicted Tuesday by a Merced County jury.

Jose Luis Botello, who was 17 at the time, gunned down 16-year-old Samantha Parreira and 19-year-old Matthew Fisher on March 30, 2013, in the backyard of a rural home outside Atwater, according to investigators.

A jury of seven women and five men delivered a guilty verdict of first-degree murder on both victims. The jury found the shooting of Fisher was gang-related, but the killing of Parreira was not.

The mothers of the victims cried in the courtroom, wiping their eyes with tissues as the verdict was read.

Botello sat silently, dressed in a sports coat with his long hair braided behind his head. His attorney declined to comment after the verdict was announced.

Desiree Parreira, the mother of Samantha Parreira, said she was “elated” by the verdict.

“(I’m) so grateful that he got what was coming to him,” she told the Sun-Star. “(Samantha) was beautiful. She was fun-loving. She has been my strength through all of this. She never let anyone down.”

Parreira thanked the investigators and prosecutors involved in the case.

Fisher’s family declined to comment Tuesday.

The case was prosecuted by the state deputy attorney generals Barton Bowers and Cliff Zall.

“We feel the jury delivered justice for the victims and their families,” Zall told the Sun-Star.

Botello’s codefendant, 22-year-old Jose M. Carballido, changed his plea Oct. 30 after spending more than three years awaiting trial. Carballido, who was not armed and did not fire any weapon the night of the slayings, pleaded no contest to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and admitted being a gang member, according to Merced County court records.

Gang violence erupted the night before Easter in 2013 in the backyard of a peach-colored house on Westside Boulevard. Investigators said Botello, a member of a well-known Atwater street gang, opened fire at Fisher, whom deputies have said was connected to a rival gang. Parreira was not involved in gangs but was seated close to Fisher when the shooting started, according to reports filed by Merced County sheriff’s detectives.

Both teenagers fell to the ground clutching their chests. More than 100 people attended the party, most of them high school students and many with street-gang ties of their own. Many initially believed the gunshots were fireworks, but the gathering quickly exploded in chaos as people realized what was happening.

Witnesses said dozens of young people scattered, frantically scrambling to get away from the violence, hiding behind cars, climbing fences, jumping into moving cars and run for cover into a nearby orchard. Several people crashed into one another while struggling to get away. As many young people ran for their lives, more gunfire was heard and deputies have said several armed gang members started shooting at other rivals.

At the front of the house, more teenagers were climbing into cars and running away from the home as more gunshots rang out, striking and killing 18-year-old Bernabed Hernandez-Canela. Deputies have said Botello and Carballido were not involved with Hernandez-Canela’s death, which they have treated as a separate case from the deaths of Fisher and Parreira.

In July 2014, Ethan Morse, son of Merced District Attorney Larry Morse II, was accused of acting as the getaway driver in connection with Hernandez-Canela’s death. Jacob Tellez was charged with shooting and killing Hernandez-Canela. The case received additional scrutiny and prosecution was turned over to the California Attorney General’s Office as a result of Morse’s one-time involvement.

However, both Morse and Tellez were found innocent of all charges by Judge Ronald W. Hansen following a preliminary hearing in November 2014. Hansen also was the trial judge in the case against Botello and Carballido. It was the veteran judge’s final trial before retiring from the bench.

Ethan Morse has since filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office and several of its detectives, accusing them of lying about evidence Morse claims pointed to other suspects who never have been charged. The suit is scheduled for a hearing next year in federal court.

Lt. Chuck Hale, who was head of the detectives unit when Botello, Carballido and Morse were arrested, declined to comment on Tuesday’s verdict, citing the ongoing litigation involving Morse and the Sheriff’s Office.

Botello’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19 in Merced. He remains in custody without bail.

His attorney, Barbara O’Neill, asked the judge for additional time before the upcoming hearing to review recent changes to sentencing laws she said might apply to Botello, who about two months shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the slayings. Authorities have said Botello faces a potential lifetime prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Atwater gang member guilty of killing two teens in 2013, jury says."