Man sentenced for deadly shooting after domestic dispute, Fresno prosecutors say
A Fresno man was sentenced to 40 years to life for the killing of another man who attempted to intervene in a domestic violence altercation, prosecutors said Monday.
Convicted of second-degree murder in June, 33-year-old Abel Echartea was sentenced Monday in Fresno County Superior Court for the Dec. 23, 2020 shooting death of Philip Ozuna, 37, a Fresno County District Attorney’s Office news release said.
Echartea was eligible for a reduced sentence, the release said, but the judge imposed a firearm enhancement. Without the gun charge, Echartea could have faced 15 years to life.
According to testimony during trial, Ozuna went to an apartment complex at Fruit and Ashlan avenues with his girlfriend and a woman who wanted to retrieve some of her belongings, when the fatal confrontation happened.
Witnesses testified to hearing multiple gunshots. The news release said Echartea fired seven times.
The defense questioned the credibility of the prosecution’s primary witness, Echartea’s girlfriend.
While on the witness stand, Echartea’s girlfriend denied making statements police said she made about her boyfriend committing the killing. At times while on the stand, she also claimed she didn’t remember what she told detectives.
Echartea went on the run after the shooting, but was captured in Marion, Indiana by a federal fugitive task force in January, police said.
This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 10:23 AM.
