A Norteño gang member who killed a boy on a Mission district street whom he wrongly believed was a gang rival, and who days later hugged the victim’s unwitting mother at an anti-violence rally on the steps of City Hall, will be sentenced tomorrow in federal court to a minimum of three decades imprisonment.
Fernando Madrigal’s reign of terror saw him rob and murder another man and perpetrate a drumbeat of drive-by shootings, street attacks, robberies and carjackings, all while cultivating an image of a reformed criminal eager to help his community overcome the menace of gang violence.
He earlier pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy as part of a plea deal in which defense and prosecution agreed to a sentence range of 30-33 years’ imprisonment. If he consents to the agreement, U.S. District Judge William Orrick will be bound by its terms and will sentence within it.
“The incalculable harm Madrigal has caused his victims and their loved ones warrants the maximum-allowable sentence under the parties’ plea agreement: 33 years,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Dautch in a memorandum provided to the court.
In the months leading up to his sentencing Madrigal has remained embroiled in criminal activity. In August, with two others, he repeatedly stabbed a fellow inmate at Santa Rita Jail and, in May, he masterminded an astonishing plot to impersonate his own attorney to extort money from a supporter.
He will be sentenced with two co-defendants – fellow Norteños Alvaro Cordero and Oscar Guadron Diaz – who undertook another horrific gang attack that left a man dead and a woman grievously wounded.
The hearing will bring to a close an extraordinary chapter of uncontrolled gang violence in the city which took an FBI investigation and racketeering prosecution by federal authorities to decisively address.
Murder of Luis Garcia
In 2018 Madrigal lured Luis Garcia to a parking lot at Candlestick Point for what he was led to believe was a routine drug transaction. Instead Madrigal robbed his victim and shot him from behind.
On his way to dump the body in the Oakland hills – where it would not be found for eighteen months – he tossed Garcia’s cellphone from his car over the side of the San Mateo Bridge intending for it to be lost in the water. By happenstance the phone in fact landed on a pier adjacent to the bridge where it was found, using the ‘Find my iPhone’ app, by Garcia’s worried wife who, with great fortitude, tracked down the phone, only to find that it was covered in dried blood and a visible fingerprint.
The court was told that Madrigal was related to Garcia by marriage.
Murder of Day’von Hann
Just after midnight on July 8, 2019 Madrigal used an assault weapon to murder Day’von Hann near the junction of 24th and Capp Streets in the Mission district – wrongly believing that the 15-year-old was a rival gang member. Prosecutors say Madrigal killed Hann simply in order to burnish his gang credentials.
Immediately after the murder, Madrigal and other gang members committed a drive-by shooting at a nearby apartment building which they again believed to be associated with their rivals.
In the days leading up to the murder, Madrigal posted photographs of himself brandishing a black assault weapon in the parking lot of a McDonald’s at the intersection where Hann was later killed. He also uploaded videos of himself, holding a rifle, commenting “Straight thugging. Didn’t want to being out the Glock, so I brought the mini chop.” These match the description of the weapon used to kill Hann.
Just weeks after Hann’s murder a vigil was held on the steps of City Hall organized by Supervisor Shamann Walton. Just weeks after he gunned down her son, Madrigal hugged his mother, Sha’ray, at the vigil. She is expected to speak to the court tomorrow at the sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors have provided the court with details of Madrigal’s extensive criminal history.
In January 2017 he and others assaulted and robbed a rival Sureño gang member at the same McDonald’s location near where two years later he would kill Day’von Hann. Three months after that, aged 18, he carjacked another suspected gang rival and, in September 2017, he is suspected of shooting at a man from a car near 26th Street and Treat Avenue, wounding a man in the leg. When convicted of the carjacking in April 2018 in San Francisco Superior Court, he would go on to serve a total of 313 days in jail for the crime.
Jailhouse extortion scheme
Madrigal’s sentencing was significantly delayed due to the sudden and unexpected departure of his two attorneys – who were permitted to leave the case by a judge after a series of hearings earlier this year. It now emerges that this was caused by a jailhouse plot masterminded by Madrigal to have a female acquaintance impersonate one of his lawyers to extort his girlfriend into paying her $10,000.
His accomplice was to contact his girlfriend pretending to be his lawyer. She was to claim that she was owed money and that she would cease representing Madrigal unless the money was immediately paid.
The plot came to light when jail officials read Madrigal’s letters to this accomplice which detailed the plan.
Sentencing recommendations to the court
As part of a plea agreement the defense and prosecution agreed to a sentence range of 30-33 years’ imprisonment for Madrigal’s crimes, with each arguing for their preferred term within that range.
“Fernando Madrigal’s crimes are amongst the most serious and harmful adjudicated in federal court,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Dautch told the court in a sentencing memorandum. “He murdered two people, including a minor, and has continued to engage in violence behind bars. A sentence of anything less than 33 years would not adequately punish Madrigal’s conduct, protect the public, or deter Madrigal and other would-be gang members from engaging in racketeering activity.”
“The incalculable harm Madrigal has caused his victims and their loved ones warrants the maximum-allowable sentence under the parties’ plea agreement: 33 years.”
In a perfunctory sentencing memorandum, Madrigal’s new attorney argued that a 30 year term would be sufficient – praying-in-aid his client’s upbringing by two gang-affiliated parents and his repeatedly sustaining gunshot and stab wounds as a result of his criminal lifestyle.
“Though he has had some recent setbacks at Santa Rita Jail,” wrote the attorney in a somewhat oblique reference to his client attempting to stab to death a fellow inmate, “Mr Madrigal is well on his way to rehabilitation – he had gained the trust of the jail staff enough to have been chosen for a period of time to be a ‘pod worker’ that works in his pod outside of cell to aid jail staff and other inmates.”
Madrigal was shot on two occasions in 2019. In June he was shot in the back of the head, and still has bullet fragments lodged in his skull. One month later he was shot more than 10 times, destroying his left eye and breaking his jaw, hands and right arm all of which required multiple surgeries.
He will appear before U.S. District Judge William Orrick at 1:30pm on Thursday December 7 2023 at San Francisco federal courthouse.
Commentary. A number of community organizations submitted letters to the judge on Madrigal’s behalf in advance of tomorrow’s hearing – as is entirely commonplace and proper. A notable feature in this case is the tone-deafness of some of the contributions which, at best, demonstrate a breathtaking gullibility on the part of the authors coupled with a heartless failure to consider the victims of his crimes.
One author – a ‘senior adviser’ at nonprofit Jobs for the Future – writes: “I am so impressed that he continued to be determined to have a positive impact on the world. Because of this clear commitment and what I know of his character, I am confident that Fernando will not commit any crimes in the future. In fact given the opportunity, he would take the opposite path and be a force for good.”
Another – the CEO of nonprofit Mission Food Hub – writes: “I do not believe that Fernando will ever commit a crime. During the many times we spoke throughout the pandemic, he spoke to me about pursuing a higher education that would provide him the path to work in our community for the benefit of those in need. We all deserve a second chance!”
Another – a ‘retired teacher and youth development specialist’ – writes: “At several conferences I attended with Fernando he spoke eloquently from his heart about barriers he and his peers were struggling to overcome and the ways in which the youth program he was a part of was helping in that struggle. He clearly had strong connections with the program staff and was growing into becoming a respected spokesperson for positive youth development.”
To be notified when new stories are published, please enter your email address below or follow us on X / Twitter.