BREAKING NEWS: Johnson shooter sentenced to 20 years

Published 3:09 pm Monday, January 14, 2008

The man who shot 16-year-old Andre Johnson to death in May 2007 was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter Monday afternoon.

Edgar Rolando Hernandez, 21, was also sentenced by Superior Court Judge Jack Partain to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to violation of the Georgia Street Gang Act. The 15-year prison term will be suspended if Hernandez stays out of the Conasauga Judicial Circuit, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties.

Three co-defendants were also sentenced. One co-defendant, Victor Manuel Ramirez, pleaded guilty on Dec. 21 but will be sentenced later because his attorney was unavailable for court Monday afternoon.

Sentenced for violation of the Georgia Street Gang Act were:

• Eduardo Sanchez, 23, who was sentenced to 15 years. He will spend the first five in prison. The balance of 10 years will be suspended if Sanchez stays out of the Conasauga Judicial Circuit. Sanchez, who was on felony probation, was sentenced to five years in prison for violating his probation. That sentence will run concurrent to his prison sentence on the street gang charge.

• Jose Ivan Chavarria, 18, was sentenced to one year in prison; nine years of probation; must spend the first six months of his probation on an ankle monitor; must pay a $1,000 fine plus court costs, surcharges and probation fees; must reimburse Whitfield County $1,800, the cost of the ankle monitoring program; must have no contact with the co-defendants; and must have no participation in gang activity.

• Bruno Pedro Sanchez, 20, was sentenced to one year in prison; seven years of probation; must spend the first six months of his probation on an ankle monitor; must pay a $500 fine plus court costs, surcharges and probation fees; must reimburse Whitfield County $1,800, the cost of the ankle monitoring program; must have no contact with the co-defendants; and must have no participation in gang activity.

Partain asked Johnson’s parents if they agreed with the sentencing recommendations. The Johnsons had previously stated they were opposed to the recommendations.

“Yes, sir,” Fred Johnson, Andre’s father, said.

Partain said he accepted the pleas for several reasons, the most important being the Johnsons’ request that he accept the recommendations.

“With the exception of Sanchez, these are first-time offenders,” Partain said. “This plea will give them a felony record.”

All of the defendants with the exception of Bruno Sanchez are not U.S. citizens, according to court testimony.

“This will put them in a category where they are subject to deportation,” Partain said.

He said that there was no evidence that the others knew that Hernandez was going to shoot Johnson and that the co-defendants agreed to testify for the state.

“It would be difficult to prove the case without their testimony,” Partain said.