Guilty verdict handed down in 2010 slaying in Merced County

A Salinas man has been convicted of second-degree murder for the 2010 slaying of a Los Banos resident.

A Merced County jury delivered its guilty verdict Tuesday to Merced County Judge Mark Bacciarini, ruling that Carlos Anthony Gallegos, 32, shot 54-year-old Los Banos resident Jorge Luis Zamora on June 22, 2010.

Gallegos faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.

Jurors said Gallegos was not guilty of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors also charged Gallegos with felony charges of robbery, car theft and possession of stolen property with using a firearm.

But the jury announced Tuesday that it was deadlocked on those allegations, leading to prosecutors dismissing the remaining charges.

"We were satisfied with the results," said Deputy District Attorney Walter Wall, the lead prosecutor on the case, noting that the verdict still gave justice for Zamora, who prosecutors described as a hard-working citizen.

Officers discovered Zamora's body in his I Street apartment on June 29, 2010, after neighbors reported an odor coming from his apartment. He was found with a gunshot to his chest and had been dead for several days, police said.

Authorities traced some of Zamora's missing property, including his car, to Gallegos' Salinas home, investigators said, adding that more of Zamora's effects were found in the residence.

Police said witnesses reported seeing Gallegos and his co-defendant, 32-year-old Los Banos resident Yadira Garcia Cervantes, driving in Zamora's vehicle.

Cervantes pleaded no contest in October 2013 to a single felony count of robbery and was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in lieu of prosecutors dropping the murder charge. Prosecutors said Cervantes' deal was thoroughly vetted and reviewed.

Prosecutors tried Gallegos for the homicide in 2014, claiming he shot Zamora. But it was dismissed and refiled after two witnesses came forward.

Cervantes served as a witness, attorneys said, testifying that Gallegos pulled the trigger. However, the jury didn't find her, or two other witnesses credible, according to attorneys.

"The jury found basically that because of their finding under second-degree murder, but they didn't find that my client personally used a firearm," said Gallegos' attorney, Fresno-based George Herman III. "It's a reasonable implication."

Herman argued that it was Cervantes who pulled the trigger and should have received a life sentence without possibility of parole, adding that jurors he spoke with after the verdict agreed with him after listening to Cervantes' testimony.

Jurors also found that testimony from Gallegos' ex-girlfriend and his former prison inmate weren't credible, attorneys said.

Gallegos will be sentenced for the murder conviction Dec. 18.

This story was originally published October 18, 2017 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Guilty verdict handed down in 2010 slaying in Merced County."