State Supreme Court Refuses to Review Monrovia Shooting Case Conviction

By City News Service

The California Supreme Court refused today to review the case against a gang member convicted of a shooting in Monrovia six years ago that left a 16-year-old boy paralyzed from the waist down.

The state's highest court denied a defense petition asking it to consider the case against Jimmy Santana, who was convicted in February 2012 of one count each of attempted murder, shooting from a motor vehicle and assault with a firearm. Jurors also found gang and gun allegations to be true.

The victim was riding his bicycle on Peck Road after buying snacks from a nearby store when he was shot at close range by the passenger in a burgundy- colored car who had yelled a derogatory term for a black street gang,

The victim later identified Santana -- with whom he had attended school - - as the gunman, according to a state appellate court ruling last October that rejected the defense's contention that there were errors in Santana's trial in Alhambra Superior Court.

In a statement read in court by Deputy District Attorney Stacie Mayoras just before Santana was sentenced in June 2012, the young victim wrote that he had prayed for Santana and his family countless times.

"Now I do not want you to think that I sympathize with you or I feel sorry for you in any way, although I must admit I hate that any of this had to happen ... I am a strong individual and if I were to let something such as being shot devour the rest of my time living, then I would consider myself to be a fool," the victim wrote.

Santana is serving a 40-year-to-life term for the Jan. 12, 2008, shooting.