Yuba City man sentenced to 32 years to life for attempted murder
Jul. 3—Sutter County Superior Court Judge Laura Davis sentenced a Yuba City man to 32 years to life with the possibility of parole for shooting a man in the head inside a restaurant in 2019.
Victor Hugo Vivanco Esquivel, 37, has been in custody since Nov. 26, 2019, after he shot Elias Garibay in the head inside a restaurant in the 100 block of Percy Avenue, Yuba City. Garibay was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center and underwent several surgeries.
Prior to the shooting, Garibay and Esquivel had been involved in an altercation. Garibay was inside the restaurant when Esquivel arrived. Esquivel attempted to shoot Garibay, who was unarmed, but the gun jammed. Garibay ran and Esquivel followed him and eventually the gun fired, striking Garibay in the head.
In April, a Sutter County jury found Esquivel guilty of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. The sentencing hearing took place on Friday. Before delivering the sentence, Davis asked both sides to provide argument as to the defense's request to have a sentence enhancement for personally and intentionally discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury stricken, reduced or substituted for another enhancement. The enhancement added 25 years to life to the prison sentence.
Defense attorney Jesse Santana said Esquivel had no criminal history prior to this incident, had been a hard worker all his life, is a provider for his family and believed his life and the life of his family was in danger the night of the shooting.
"Sometimes, when people are in fear they overreact," Santana said.
He reiterated his position from trial that Garibay and other individuals instigated the altercation with Esquivel and that Esquivel acted in self-defense.
Prior to Deputy District Attorney Diego Heimlich's argument, two victim impact statements were read in court. Carmen Harris, Elias Garibay's sister, described the impact of the shooting on her brother and her family.
Elias Garibay sat in a wheelchair in the audience next to members of his family on Friday.
Harris said her brother can no longer take care of himself, suffers from seizures, memory loss, and is now blind. Harris works as a medical professional during the week and said she spends time at work scheduling appointments for her brother.
"He (Esquivel) put a bullet through my entire family," Harris said.
Harris then read a statement from another of Elias Garibay's sisters, Maria Garibay. She takes care of Elias Garibay every day. In her statement, she asked the court to sentence Esquivel to prison for the rest of his life.
Heimlich said it would only be in the interest of justice to sentence Esquivel to the maximum sentence rather than modifying the enhancement. He said Esquivel had plenty of time to determine what to do after the altercation and decided to use a firearm to shoot at an unarmed man in an occupied restaurant. Heimlich asked the court to follow the probation department's recommendation of sentencing Esquivel to 32 years to life in prison.
"His (Elias Garibay) life as he had it before is over," Heimlich said.
Davis denied the defense's request and sentenced Esquivel to 32 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The attempted murder count carries a sentence of seven years to life and an additional 25 years to life was added for the personal discharge of a firearm causing injury enhancement.
Esquivel has 60 days to appeal the court's decision.
