Man Sentenced for Shooting Deputies

A Ventura judge sentenced a laborer from Oxnard to two consecutive life sentences Tuesday for shooting two deputies last year when they pulled him over in a routine traffic stop.

Emiliano Orozco will spend at least 32 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole, Deputy Dist. Atty. James Ellison said.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Martinez, 41, and his partner, Deputy Jennifer Sezzi, 30, had stopped Orozco, then 20, and his cousin, Pablo Cortez de la Torre, then 23, in El Rio last April 29 because they had a broken taillight.

The deputies spotted open beer bottles in the car.

When they frisked De la Torre, they found a small bag of marijuana, officials said.

There were no witnesses. But as Martinez started to frisk Orozco, the deputy apparently turned to ask his partner a question.

It was then that Orozco whipped a gun from his boot and started firing, officials said.

Martinez was hit three times. Two shots were deflected by his bulletproof vest and the third shattered his shoulder. Another bullet grazed Sezzi’s shoulder.

Orozco and De la Torre ran from the scene.

De la Torre, who was not charged in the case, ran to a home and called authorities to turn himself in. Deputies spotted Orozco a few blocks away, where he again fired at deputies, authorities said.

Martinez is working again, Ellison said, but his shoulder is not completely healed.

“It is not expected that he will ever be completely back to normal, the way he was before the shooting,” Ellison said.

Ventura County Municipal Judge Herbert Curtis III also sentenced Orozco to 25 2/3 years for assault with a deadly weapon.

However, due to an error in computation in that portion of his sentence, Orozco will be resentenced Thursday or Friday, Ellison said Tuesday. The sentence of two consecutive life terms will stand, he said.

Orozco also was found guilty of several other counts, including attempted murder of a police officer.