An Oceanside man convicted of shooting into a car, killing a backseat passenger, was sentenced Monday to 89 years to life in prison.
At trial earlier this year, a Vista Superior Court jury found Vicente Huerta, 26, guilty of firing at an occupied vehicle and of personally discharging a firearm — a shooting that killed 22-year-old Chelsea Pacheco. Huerta was also convicted on gun and gang allegations.
The gun allegation carries a sentence of 25 years to life, and Judge Dan Link was able to double that and other sentencing terms because Huerta had a strike on his record.
But while the jury found that Huerta had opened fire on the car, the panel deadlocked over the question of whether Pacheco’s death was murder. Although Huerta was sentenced for the other charges, prosecutors may still retry him on the murder charge.
According to authorities, Pacheco was in a car with friends when the driver pulled over at the intersection of Grant and Division streets in Oceanside on June 4, 2022. There was a man on the sidewalk. The driver quickly exchanged words with the man on a sidewalk, then sped off.
Surveillance video caught the encounter. The man on the sidewalk — later identified as Huerta — was recorded stepping into the street and shooting at the car as it drove away.
One of the bullets pierced the backseat and struck Pacheco, an Oceanside resident. But her friends did not know she had been shot, according to police. Thinking Pacheco was having a panic attack and having trouble breathing, the friends called 911. Paramedics met them at Bush and Archer streets. They took Pacheco to a hospital, where she died.
Within two days, investigators identified Huerta as the suspected gunman. Two months later, authorities tracked him down in Mexico. He was soon returned to the United States. His trial started in September, about a year after the shooting.
During closing arguments at trial, defense attorney Alvaro Gonzalez argued that his client Huerta opened fire in self-defense.
Gonzalez told the jury that Huerta was a gang member and alleged that the driver who pulled over and confronted Huerta was a rival gang member. Gonzalez alleged that the driver was armed and that Huerta “believed imminent use of force was necessary.”
Deputy District Attorney Matt Hardy countered that there was no evidence the driver had a gun, and none was found in the car.
Hardy argued that this was “by no means a self-defense case.” He said no one had threatened Huerta and noted that the video showed Huerta moving toward the car, “running in the direction of this supposed danger.”
