The Garza murder

Johnnie Joe Oranday's day in court wasn't as dramatic as his cohorts', but Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said he's satisfied justice was done.

Oranday pleaded guilty to murder Wednesday in connection with the June 18, 2006, shooting death of 22-year-old Adrian Ramirez Garza. Judge Denn Whalen of the 70th District Court sentenced Oranday to 15 years in prison.

"You don't always get all the justice you want, but in this case, we got all the justice we could for Adrian Garza," Bland said.

Attempts to reach Garza's attorney, Adrian Chavez, were unsuccessful late Thursday afternoon.

Bland said Oranday's case would have been much harder to prove than Jesse Lee McGinnis' or Naomi Alva's. They both received life sentences for their role in Garza's death.

Bland said because of evidence rules, a lot of the evidence from the McGinnis and Alva trials would be excluded in this case, and he suspected a 1-in-3 chance of a not-guilty verdict if Oranday went before a jury.

"For his role in the shooting and what he actually did, 15 years is a good plea bargain," Bland said.

Garza was killed at a party in the 300 block of North Essex Avenue in West Odessa after a fight that was at least a week in the making.

During McGinnis' trial, Bland said that Alva, who was McGinnis' girlfriend, got in a fight with Garza's girlfriend the week before the shooting. On the night of the shooting, Bland said Garza's girlfriend got in a fight with a friend of Alva's at the party.

McGinnis and Alva left the party in a white minivan, Bland said. They called up Oranday and asked him to bring a 9 mm pistol and a shotgun. The three returned to the party, and when they arrived, a crowd of people formed outside the van.

Bland said "at some point" McGinnis fired a gun in the air and then toward the crowd and hit Garza, who fell to the ground.

Bland said McGinnis then shot Garza "several more times" as he lay on the ground.

Bland said Thursday that Oranday's role was "clearly the least involved" of the three. He said there was also a question as to whether or not Oranday knew the shooting was going to happen.

"The other two got life sentences, and they deserved it," Bland said.