The second of three co-defendants in an attempted jailhouse murder case has pleaded no contest to charges ahead of his preliminary hearing.
SANTA CRUZ —
Adrian Ortiz, 24, reached a plea deal Friday with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office for a seven-year prison sentence. He now faces sentencing on charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon and an enhancement for acting to benefit a gang. As part of the deal, additional charges of attempted murder with great bodily injury and participating in gang activity are expected to be dismissed at Ortiz’s sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors had charged Ortiz, along with co-defendants Leo Rueda, 39, and Matthew Madriz Alcaraz, 20, in the June 26, 2023,. Ortiz had been jailed just days before the confrontation on an out-of-state warrant. Prior to his arrest, Ortiz had been out of custody on felony probation related to a March 2021 conviction for carrying a concealed weapon.
The remaining co-defendant, Madriz, is scheduled to face gang-related attempted murder charges at a pending preliminary hearing date likely to be delayed from its scheduled Tuesday start. Before his charged involvement with the inmate shanking, Madriz, of Morgan Hill, had been jailed since April 2022 on a separate case related to the.
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