RATTLER GUARD GETS TRANSIENT 9 YEARS.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LANCASTER - A 30-year-old transient was sentenced to nine years in prison for attempting to murder a sheriff's deputy by keeping a rattlesnake rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, hollow segments of skin, which, when shaken, make a whirring sound. in a plastic food container to guard his drugs. Catrino Meza pleaded no contest to attempted murder In the criminal law, attempted murder is committed when the defendant does an act that is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the crime of murder and, at the time of these acts, the person has a specific intention to kill. because he faced more time if he was convicted of all charges. ``He was looking at life plus five years approximately,'' Meza's attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Avrum S. Harris, said after Friday's sentencing. Prosecutors said Meza must serve 85 percent of his sentence because the crime was a violent felony. ``It was fair and appropriate under the circumstances,'' Deputy District Attorney Jeff Gootman said. Authorities said Meza had borrowed a vehicle listed on computer records as the property of a person wanted on an arrest warrant. The deputy spotted the vehicle in the Lancaster Metrolink station parking lot at about about 9 a.m. April 18 and then talked with Meza. The deputy found out Meza was not the vehicle owner but was on probation for spousal spou·sal adj. 1. Of or relating to marriage; nuptial. 2. Of or relating to a spouse. n. Marriage; nuptials. Often used in the plural. assault, officials said. The deputy said he asked to search the vehicle and was granted permission, officials said. The deputy repeatedly asked Meza if there was anything that would harm him inside the vehicle, and the deputy said Meza repeatedly answered no, officials said. The deputy said he found small amounts of methamphetamine methamphetamine (mĕth'ămfĕt`əmēn): see amphetamine; methedrine. in different places in the car, then discovered a black plastic food container in the rear. When he popped open the container lid, the deputy said he saw the rattlesnake sitting atop packages of methamphetamine and quickly snapped the lid back on. Prosecutors said Meza had been bitten before and received four different types of antivenin antivenin /an·ti·ven·in/ (-ven´in) a material used in treatment of poisoning by animal venom. black widow spider antivenin a. . , so he knew how dangerous the snake was. The snake was sent to a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Museum of Natural History researcher who studies venoms. Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com |
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