A Pelican Bay State Prison parolee pleaded no contest Wednesday
to one felony count of carjacking with a gang enhancement that
could send him back to prison for nearly 10 years .
Hollister – A Pelican Bay State Prison parolee pleaded no contest Wednesday to one felony count of carjacking with a gang enhancement that could send him back to prison for nearly 10 years .
Dario Casarez, 24, agreed to the plea bargain in front of San Benito County Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders on the condition that the District Attorney’s Office drop the three other felonies he was facing – including a charge of attempted first degree murder, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. Casarez was convicted of the carjacking charge, which carries a maximum sentence of nine years and eight months in prison, after he carjacked a Hollister resident at gunpoint in January.
Casarez, who police believe is a Norteno gang member, pleaded no contest to one gang enhancement charge but several other gang enhancement charges that were tacked on to the dismissed felonies also were dropped.
The compromise pleased both Casarez’s attorney, Greg La Forge, and District Attorney John Sarsfield.
“Anytime you can get eight special allegations and three charges, including first degree attempted murder which carries a life sentence, dismissed, is a good day,” La Forge said.
“It turned out very good for us,” Sarsfield said. “The majority of the charges were rolled into the one (carjacking) charge. Carjacking is a good conviction – it’s a serious crime and a strike.”
The carjacking conviction is Casarez’s first strike conviction, La Forge said. However, he is also facing two additional felony charges of battery with serious bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon after he participated in the beating of another prisoner last month, according to the San Benito County Jail.
Casarez and another prisoner jumped an inmate in a gang-related beating, where they fractured the man’s ribs, his foot and gave him a concussion, said Sgt. Edward Escamilla. The two used a broom handle and toilet bowl brush in the attack, Escamilla said.
Sarsfield said the jail beating wouldn’t count as a second strike if Casarez is convicted because it occurred before he was convicted of the carjacking charge. He has yet to go before a judge for the assault charges.
Casarez was arrested and booked into the San Benito County Jail four months before he assaulted his fellow inmate by San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies after he carjacked a Hollister man at gunpoint in January, according to police.
Just days after Casarez’s release from Pelican Bay, Casarez and 32-year-old Alex Hernandez, who has pleaded not guilty to similar charges but Sarsfield said hasn’t appeared before a judge for a preliminary hearing yet, allegedly hitched a ride with a Hollister resident in late January, according to police.
The man, who has since vanished, picked the two up on San Juan/Hollister Road around 10:45am, according to sheriff’s Lt. Pat Turturici. When the trio reached the 1700 block of Buena Vista Road, Casarez, who was sitting in the front seat, pointed a small handgun at the driver’s head, Turturici has said.
The man batted the gun away and Hernandez, who was sitting in the back seat, allegedly started to choke the driver from behind until the man managed to get out of the car and run to a nearby home where he called police, Turturici has said.
Casarez and Hernandez also allegedly robbed someone at gunpoint at the Red Barn Flea Market in Monterey County earlier that day, according to the sheriff’s department.
Casarez was originally charged with attempted first degree murder, strong-arm robbery, car theft, violation of parole and participation in a criminal street gang with the use of a gun.
Sarsfield, who said he would personally prosecute the case if it went to trial, said that while the victim’s disappearance is a problem, it had no bearing on the charges being dismissed.
“Sometimes people are reluctant to cooperate with the justice system, especially when there’s gang activity,” Sarsfield said. “At the end of the day it’s difficult to force people to come to court. But this is a good example that we are able to get convictions of serious crimes with gang enhancements.”
But La Forge believes the charges were dismissed because they shouldn’t have been charged in the first place.
“Mr. Sarsfield obviously over-charged this case from the jump,” he said. “And when it came time to produce at the preliminary hearing the deputy DA in court made the fair and equitable offer for which my client accepted.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
