Man pleads no contest in deadly 2012 Turlock shooting

A 35-year-old man will be sentenced to 24 years in prison in the 2012 death of David Hernandez, who was gunned down outside his grandmother’s house in Turlock.

Cornelio Torres Jr. on Tuesday pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement of using a gun to kill Hernandez, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. Torres agreed to a plea deal, so prosecutors dropped the murder charge against him.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves scheduled Torres to return to court March 22, when he will be formally sentenced. The defendant remains in custody at the county jail.

Hernandez’s family will have an opportunity to speak at next month’s hearing about the impact of his death. The victim worked for 15 years at Volk Enterprises, which manufactures poultry trussing devices and thermometers. He is survived by a wife and three children.

The shooting occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Dec. 29, 2012, in the 800 block of South Avenue, a few blocks east of Highway 99. Turlock officers responded to the area after a report of shots fired and found Hernandez with gunshot wounds. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Hernandez’s family members have told The Modesto Bee that the shooting’s motive wasn’t clear to them. They have said Hernandez was standing outside with some cousins, one of whom is a former gang member, when the shots rang out that night.

An arrest was made, but Turlock police determined in spring 2015 that the wrong suspect was being charged with murder in Hernandez’s death.

Not long after the shooting, Ernesto Negrete was arrested in Hernandez’s death. Negrete was held at the county jail for more than two years until new information led to his release and Torres’ arrest.

Initially, prosecutors said there were two witnesses who claimed to have spotted Negrete at the crime scene. There also had been discussions between Negrete and his mother that indicated he was responsible in the shooting death, authorities said.

Turlock police Detective Frank Navarro continued to investigate the shooting long after Negrete had been arrested and charged. The detective gathered information that called into question the case against Negrete. Prosecutors said one of the witnesses then admitted to investigators what had happened in the shooting, and that the witness initially was afraid to tell the truth and provided false information to police.

Navarro questioned Torres again as part of the investigation and subsequently arrested him on suspicion of killing Hernandez.

Prosecutors dropped the murder charge against Negrete. He pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge and was released for time already served in jail.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Man pleads no contest in deadly 2012 Turlock shooting."