Twenty-two year old Jose Ruiz, of Terra Bella, was sentenced today to Life Without the Possibility of Parole by the Honorable Judge Gerald Sevier. Ruiz was found guilty by a Tulare County jury on February 17, 2009 for the First Degree Murder of 17-year-old Lorenzo Leon. The murder occurred in the city of Terra Bella on September 12, 2006. The jury also found true the use of the gun by the defendant, that the crime was committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang, and that the defendant shot from motor vehicle. The jury also found Ruiz guilty of two counts of willful, premeditated, and deliberate attempted murder and three counts of shooting from a motor vehicle.

The murder took place in the late evening hours of September 12, 2006, as the victim and two of his friends were walking down a street in Terra Bella. A car that Defendant Ruiz was a passenger in pulled up to the pedestrians. The victim walked to the passenger window of the car and Defendant Ruiz then pulled a .357 gun out and shot victim Leon in the chest, killing him almost instantly. The two surviving pedestrians fled the area as additional shots were fired from the front passenger who was now hanging out the window. Two hours later, the suspect’s vehicle was found fully engulfed in flames a few miles from Terra Bella and eventually extinguished by the Tulare County Fire Department.

The driver of the car, 18-year-old Daniel Hernandez, also from Terra Bella, was sentenced on August 14, 2008 to 33 years-to-life after also being found guilty by a Tulare County jury in June 2008.

The case was investigated by the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office; and prosecuted by Supervising Deputy District Attorney Janet Wise, with assistance of Investigator Kurt McPhetridge of the Tulare County District Attorney Bureau of Investigations.
 

Contact Person: Shani D. Jenkins, Assistant District Attorney (559) 733-6411.