News

Three gang members facing murder charges stemming from the Dec. 16, 2014 stabbing death of a 14 year old in Eureka have reached plea deals with prosecutors.

According to a press release from the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, Joe Olivo Jr., Joe Olivo III and Mario Nunez all pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges, admitting that they participated in the fatal stabbing of Jesus Garcia-Romero in an apartment in the 700 block of P Street in Eureka.

Specifically, Olivio Jr., 39, and Nunez, 32, pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter committed in the furtherance of a criminal gang and will be sentenced to a stipulated term of 16 years in state prison at a hearing Sept. 17. Olivo III, who was 17 years old when he personally stabbed Garcia-Romero, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with personal use of a knife. He faces a maximum of 12 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 4.

A fourth defendant in the case, Nicholas Leigl, who prosecutors were unable to present enough evidence to hold to stand trial on a murder charge, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of participating in a street gang last year.

For more information about the killing, see past Journal coverage here. And find the full press release from the district attorney’s office copied below.

Office of the District Attorney - Maggie Fleming, District Attorney
NEWS RELEASE
August 29, 2018
Today, 39-year-old Joe Olivo Jr. and 32-year-old Mario Nunes pled guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter committed in furtherance of a criminal gang. Both defendants will be sentenced on September 17, 2018, to 16 years in state prison.  Twenty-year-old Joe Olivo III, a minor at the time of the incident, pled guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter with personal use of a knife. He will be sentenced on October 4, 2018, to serve up to 12 years in prison.
These convictions hold the three defendants accountable for their roles in the death of 14-year-old Jesus Garcia-Romero, who was fatally stabbed on the night of December 16, 2014, in an apartment in the 700 block of P Street in Eureka.