Lujan pleads guilty to murder

An Odessa man who pointed the finger at a fellow gang member in a 2007 fatal shooting pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder in the death of 18-year-old Hector Medrano. Israel L. Lujan, 21, received the 25-year prison sentence he was promised before he agreed to testify last December in the capital murder trial of Daniel S. Orona.

Lujan also pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and was sentenced to 15 years in those cases, prison terms set to run concurrently with the murder sentence. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed five pending charges — three additional robbery cases, one charge of burglary of a habitation and one charge of possession of cocaine — against Lujan.

According to the plea agreement, Lujan has agreed to testify for the prosecution in future cases, including at least one pending robbery case involving Daniel R. Schwartz, an Odessa man police said participated in a string of 7-Eleven robberies in 2006. 

Lujan’s guilty plea comes more than nine months after Orona was convicted of shooting Medrano in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun and sentenced to life in prison without parole. A third defendant in the capital case, Fernando Andujo, 22, is expected to plead guilty today to murder and be sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The case stemmed from a shooting on Aug. 16, 2007, at the Spanish Oaks Apartments, 2113 E. Ninth St. Prosecutors said the defendants — who reportedly belonged to Creepin’ On Slobs, a local gang — attempted to rob a group of men in the parking lot of the apartment complex when the confrontation became violent.

Prosecutors said Orona fired the fatal shotgun blast, striking Medrano in the chest. Andujo, meanwhile, reportedly fired a shot that grazed Medrano’s brother. Prosecutors said Lujan was the getaway driver and remained in the car during the shooting. Police never recovered the weapons because the defendants discarded the two shotguns in a nearby trash bin.

District Attorney Bobby Bland said Wednesday that Lujan and Andujo, in testifying for the prosecution, played essential roles in Orona’s conviction. He called the shooting “one of the toughest cases I’ve ever received” because police could not identify the shooter.

“The officers did all they could with the evidence they had,” Bland said. “This was a tough case.”

Bland said a number of traumatized witnesses offered conflicting testimony. At one point during the investigation, witnesses had identified all three of the defendants as the shooter, Bland said, adding he waived the death penalty in the case because even a murder conviction seemed elusive in the beginning.

“Most murder cases are pretty much solved by the time you get them,” said Assistant District Linda Deaderick, who prosecuted Orona with Bland. “This was one where we really had to sort out the evidence to even determine the shooter.”

One witness, Joe Morales, initially told authorities he was “100 percent sure” Andujo was the shooter. But he recanted shortly before Orona’s trial and ultimately testified he was certain it was Orona who shot Medrano. Morales explained that his testimony changed because he was “traumatized and dazed” by the shooting.

“How would you feel if one of your brother-in-laws got shot in front of you?” Morales asked a defense attorney during Orona’s trial.

Still, the defense sought to capitalize on the confusion, suggesting Lujan and Andujo were influenced by their plea agreements with the state.

In reflecting on the Orona trial, Bland said the capital murder conviction marked “one of my prouder accomplishments” since becoming district attorney. He said Lujan received a lesser sentence than Andujo in part because he remained in the car and had a lesser criminal record.

“Andujo got out of the car with the gun and actually robbed the people,” Bland said, adding Andujo was also sentenced to 20 years in prison after his probation was revoked in a separate case.

Bland said he was pleased to elicit guilty pleas from Orona’s accomplices, even if it meant dismissing several pending cases. “The fact that (Lujan) is going to have to do 25 years — he has to do at least half of that — trust me, he does not think it’s a slap on the wrist,” Bland said.

Lujan’s defense attorney, Jason Leach of Odessa, said the sentence was “probably the best outcome (Lujan) could expect.”

“He’s accepted responsibility for his actions,” Leach said. “It’s a tragic series of events for everybody involved.”

PREVIOUS EVENTS
-Fatal shooting
-Andujo arrest
-Andujo claims innocence
-Subia arrest
-Three indicted on capital murder charges
-Orona trial begins
-Orona Trial: day two
-Orona trial: day three
-Orona convicted, sentenced