Fresno County DA drops murder charge against Sanger man accused of killing teenager
Citing a lack of evidence, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office dropped a murder charge against a Sanger man accused of killing 17-year-old Maria Guadalupe Garcia Gaspar in late 2021.
The defendant, 21-year-old Joseph Hernandez, exhaled deeply as Senior Deputy District Attorney Kelly Smith delivered the news to Judge Mark Cullers.
“We could proceed, but after further investigation and discussions with the defense, we discovered we did not have adequate evidence to go forward to trial,” said Smith. “If we had gone forward to trial at this point we would not have achieved a guilty verdict.”
Smith left open the possibility of refiling the murder charge if new evidence is discovered.
Hernandez’s attorneys, Ian Heuston and co-counsel James Homola, declined to comment.
If convicted, Hernandez could have served a maximum of 77 years-to-life in prison.
For now, Hernandez will remain in jail as his robbery charge is still pending.
The victim’s family could not be reached Friday as the mystery of who killed Gaspar, a junior at Kings River High School, continues.
On the night of the shooting, Dec. 12, 2021, neighbors reported hearing several gunshots around midnight. Police canvassed the area around the 1300 block of I Street in Sanger and found multiple spent shell casings, a white athletic shoe, and Gaspar’s dead body.
It took about two weeks before Sanger detectives cobbled together pieces of evidence in the murder.
The shoe laces on the white shoe found at the scene had Hernandez’s DNA. In one of his social media pages, Hernandez also held a handgun and was wearing shoes similar to the one found near the shooting. He also drove a car similar to one seen the night of the shooting in the neighborhood.
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 4:40 PM.
