First prison term handed down in slaying of two Merced County teenagers in 2013
A 22-year-old Atwater gang member was sentenced on Friday to 22 years in state prison for his role in the shooting deaths of two teenagers in 2013, according to Merced County Superior Court records.
Jose M. Carballido, who turns 23 on Tuesday, pleaded no contest in October to two counts of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the slayings of Matthew Fisher, 19, and 16-year-old Samantha Parreira.
The two teenagers were shot to death March 30, 2013, at a large house party over Easter weekend on Westside Boulevard outside Atwater.
Merced County sheriff's deputies said Carballido came to the party with the shooter, 22-year-old Jose L. Botello, who last month was convicted of two counts of murder in the case by a Merced County Superior Court jury.
Both men belonged to the same Atwater street gang, investigators said.
Dozens of people attended the house party in 2013, including many from rival street gangs in Merced County, deputies said.
Detectives said Fisher and Parreira were seated close together in the backyard of the home when Botello opened fire at Fisher. Deputies believed Carballido may have been acting as a lookout for Botello, but Carballido's attorney has said his client wasn't even aware that Botello was armed.
In exchange for Carballido's plea in October, prosecutors with the California Attorney General's Office reduced the charges against him to manslaughter. The 22-year prison term was part of the agreement reached in the plea deal, attorneys have said.
A third person also was killed in a separate shooting that happened around the same time in the front yard area of the same home where Parreira and Fisher were killed. Deputies have said the death of Bernabed Hernandez-Canela was not connected to the other two slayings.
In 2014, two men were charged with murder in connection with Hernandez-Canela's death, including Ethan Morse, the son of Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II. However, both men were declared innocent that same year following a preliminary hearing in Merced.
The case against Carballido and Botello was turned over to the state Attorney General's Office due to Morse's one-time involvement.
Botello, who remains in custody without bail in Merced County, is due back in court Jan. 19 for sentencing.
This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 12:49 PM with the headline "First prison term handed down in slaying of two Merced County teenagers in 2013."