Defendant agrees to 21-year prison sentence for deadly west Modesto shooting

A 29-year-old defendant has agreed to a plea deal that will result in a 21-year prison sentence for the 2010 shooting of Juan Gabriel Barajas, who was killed in west Modesto.

Gilbert Navarro Jr. on Thursday afternoon pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. He also was convicted of a gun enhancement for using a firearm in the crime. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped the murder charge.

Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova told the defendant that he would have faced a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison had Navarro gone to trial with the murder charge and been convicted.

Navarro has been in custody since July 2010. The judge told the defendant that he will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence because he committed a violent felony. Upon release from prison, Navarro will have to serve four years on parole. He will not be allowed to own or possess a gun for the rest of his life.

Córdova ordered Navarro to return to court April 12, when he’s scheduled to be formally sentenced. At that hearing, Barajas’ family will have an opportunity to speak in court about the impact of his death.

Barajas was 32 years old when police found him slumped over with a gunshot wound in the driver’s seat of a car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Shortly before 11:30 p.m. June 27, 2010, officers had responded to reports of shots fired in the 1600 block of Vicksburg Street, just south of Paradise Road and southwest of Marshall Park, when they found Barajas.

At Navarro’s preliminary hearing in September 2013, Modesto police Detective Jon Evers testified that Navarro and Francisco “Frankie” Carranza Meza shot Barajas. Meza also was charged with murder; he remains a fugitive.

Authorities say Meza stands about 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds. He is 29 years old and has brown hair and brown eyes. Meza is listed as one of the county’s “Most Wanted” fugitives on the Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers website.

Maricela Varela, Sarah Irene Taberna and Gloria Meza have pleaded no contest to a felony charge of being accessories in a crime by giving detectives false information about the slaying. Taberna also pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of destroying or concealing evidence.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Defendant agrees to 21-year prison sentence for deadly west Modesto shooting."