By Paul T. Rosynsky
San Jose Mercury News
OAKLAND, Calif. — A Union City gang member found guilty of trying to kill an undercover Fremont police officer will spend at least six decades, and most likely the rest of his life, in prison, a judge declared Friday.
Calling the crimes committed by Andrew Barrientos “callous and hideous,” Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner sentenced the 21-year-old to 68 years to life in prison for the 10 felony crimes he was found guilty of last month. Barrientos will not be eligible for parole until he is 83.
“The sentencing was more than fair; it was appropriate,” said officer Todd Young, 39, who almost died as a result of a gunshot that ruptured his pelvis. “All of my determination has been the result of the support I have received.”
Young barely survived the gunshot wound that occurred when he and partner officer Eric Tang attempted to arrest Barrientos on an outstanding warrant after they spotted him at a home in East Oakland on Aug. 27, 2010.
Both officers were wearing civilian clothes, working on an Alameda County gang task force, when their attempted arrest of Barrientos for an outstanding warrant resulted in a foot chase.
With Young in pursuit, Barrientos quickly reached for a semi-automatic pistol he concealed in his pants and fired 10 shots at the officer. One of those bullets hit Young just above his belt, causing massive internal injuries that even an experienced trauma surgeon at Highland Hospital believed would kill the officer.
Instead, Young fought against death, and after 51 days in the hospital, which included about two weeks in a medically induced coma, he was released and began a long road to recovery.
On Friday, Young said he expects to be back on the streets as a task force member by summer 2012. He is currently on medical leave.
Barrientos was caught a day after the shooting just feet from the Mexico border.
In making his escape from the scene, Barrientos almost killed two others when he tried to carjack one man at a liquor store near the shooting scene and then successfully carjacked another man at the same store.
Barrientos was found guilty last month of all 10 felony crimes alleged against him, including two counts connected to a threat he made against his former girlfriend.
“If the defendant had his way ... we wouldn’t be standing here today and officer Young would not be with us; he would be dead,” said deputy district attorney John Brouhard. “The fact that this was not a murder prosecution was a close call.”
Barrientos, a lifelong gang member with a long list of previous felony convictions, including several which occurred when he was a juvenile, did not appear fazed by the sentencing Friday. In fact, at times, Barrientos could be seen smiling as Horner described his crimes as heinous and issued lifetime prison terms.
Barrientos’s attorney, Barbara Thomas, argued during the trial that her client had no idea Young was a police officer and attempted to convince a jury that her client shot at the officer because he believed Young was a rival gang member. But a recording of the shooting, captured by Oakland’s Shot Spotter system, revealed that Young shouted “Police Police” just before Barrientos began to fire his pistol.
Text messages sent by Barrientos to his former girlfriend also showed that he was planning to kill police officers if they tried to arrest him.
“Tell them I’m going all head shots,” one of the text messages written by Barrientos said.
Horner said he agreed with both Brouhard and the Alameda County Probation Department who concluded that Barrientos is an extreme danger to society and should spend the rest of his life in prison.
The judge also commended Young for his fight for survival and his service protecting the community against gang members such as Barrientos.
“You’re going to make it,” Horner said to Young. “We need you. The men and women of this community need you.”
Copyright 2011 San Jose Mercury News