Impulsive Man With Gun Is Free at Last

A truck driver, convicted last month of two misdemeanors in a roadway shooting involving a California Highway Patrol officer, walked out of court Wednesday a free man.

And, more than that, Margarito Levya was really allowed to go free this time, unlike the last time he walked out of court after a judge had ordered his release.

Leyva, 27, in jail since his arrest Aug. 22, was supposed to have been released on his own recognizance after a jury acquitted him Feb. 17 of felony counts in the shooting.

But his family could not find him outside the courthouse after the verdict. That was because Los Angeles County authorities made a computer check before letting Levya go and found that he was wanted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for entering the country illegally.

Deported to Tijuana

After that discovery, Levya was taken to County Jail, where immigration officers picked him up and deported him to Tijuana.

In fact, Leyva, a citizen of Mexico, had to enter the United States illegally again in order to make it to his sentencing Wednesday on the misdemeanor charges in the case.

However, he has since applied for U. S. citizenship under the federal amnesty law and won’t have to go back to Mexico this time, said Deputy Public Defender James M. Coady, Levya’s attorney.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Meredith Taylor had sentenced Levya to six months for the misdemeanor offenses--one count each of possession of a firearm in a vehicle and possession of a concealed weapon. But Levya was permitted to go free because he already had served 194 days in jail for the Aug. 22 incident on Sierra Highway.

“Mr. Leyva, you are a very lucky man,” Taylor said as she imposed the sentence. “My suggestion to you is, sir, no guns.”

Levya, who has been living in Newhall, was acquitted earlier of one count each of attempted murder, assaulting an officer and shooting at an occupied vehicle. If he had been convicted of the three felonies, he could have been sentenced to life in prison.

During the six-day trial in February, CHP Officer Charles Cooper testified that he was in his patrol car on the shoulder of Sierra Highway, about half a mile south of San Fernando Road, when shots were fired at him from the driver’s side of a passing pickup truck.

Leyva testified that he fired five bullets in the air to celebrate his favorite song being played on the radio and to test his .25-caliber handgun.

“Then he rounded the corner and saw the patrol car, and what went through his mind was, ‘Oh, shucks,’ ” Coady said.

“While it might not occur to some people to shoot guns off while they’re feeling good, if you come from a ranch background, you may be more likely to do that,” Coady said.