Oscar Mondragon’s past weighed heavily in a Cobb County judge’s decision Wednesday to sentence the Marietta teen to five years in prison for accidentally shooting his younger brother.
Mondragon was just 16 when he was arrested in June 2011 after his 12-year-old brother, Javier, was found dead inside the family’s trailer at Valley View Mobile Home Park.
Though prosecutors acknowledged he likely didn’t intend to shoot his sibling, they argued the troubled youth — who had already been assigned a probation officer prior to Javier’s death — should be held accountable for past transgressions that included drug and burglary charges.
“These are very serious offenses,” Cobb County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans said. “Even if this was an unintentional shooting … legally, the defense it was an accident is not going to fly.”
Mondragon, now 18, pleaded guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and gang activity charges after his attorneys reached a deal with prosecutors. But the two sides couldn’t agree on a sentence, with the defense insisting on probation for their client, who has spent the past 22 months in the Marietta Youth Detention Center.
“Think of how one of these old-time gangbangers down (at the Georgia State Prison) in Jackson would love to take (Oscar) under their wing,” defense attorney Jason Treadaway argued. “Mondragon is clay in their hands. That’s what happens if he goes into the Department of Corrections.”
Marietta YDC guard Victor Pena testified that Mondragon deserved a second chance.
“I think it would be negative,” he said when asked if the defendant should be sent to prison. “You would take a young man who’s been trying to do the right thing … and you’d expose him to real hardcore gang activity.”
Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley sided with the state’s recommended 10-year sentence, with five years to serve.
Mondragon, who lived with his mother, stepfather and five siblings, told relatives he had been drinking and didn’t think the gun was loaded, Evans said.
“I have to deal with what happened,” Staley told Mondragon, whose head remained bowed through the proceedings. “You took the life of a 12-year-old.”
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