Moses Lake teenager sentenced in shooting
Jose Rivera, 16, walks into a Grant County courtroom. He was sentenced this week to nearly two years in a state juvenille facility for his role in an attempted murder.
EPHRATA - The 16-year-old boy who was an accomplice in the attempted murder of Dale Olmos, was sentenced to about two years and will serve that time in a state juvenile facility.
Jose Rivera pled guilty as a juvenile to being an accomplice in the December execution-style shooting of Olmos, who Rivera believed stole his girlfriend's cellphone.
"This is your last and best chance to make some life changes," Grant County Judge John Antosz told him during sentencing.
Rivera was not the shooter, but police records show he asked Jordan Weister for help. Weister shot Olmos in the head at point-blank range. After the shooting, Rivera, Weister and Gilbert Williamson left Olmos in a field.
Weister, 21, was sentenced to 15 years and Williamson, 46, was sentenced to mandatory drug rehab at earlier hearings.
Dale Olmos' father, Dale Brigman, pled with Antosz to give Rivera the maximum sentence allowed by law.
"That is what I am doing here. I am abiding by the law and giving him the maximum sentence allowed," Antosz said.
In an earlier hearing, Judge John Knodell said that, in theory, Rivera could be held in jail until he was 21.
Dale Olmos survived the shooting and was present during the sentencing. He did not speak but his father did.
"We would not be here today if not for Jose Rivera; he didn't have the guts to fight my son like a man," Brigman said. He also asked the judge to order Rivera to pay for future medical bills for his son, not the state.
"Jose committed the crime, not the taxpayer," he said.
Antosz followed the standard sentencing range of 103-129 weeks, and set a restitution hearing for Olmos for July 21.
Antosz said that the standard sentencing range included information about Rivera's previous arrests. He said that, according to a juvenile assessment, neither of Rivera's parents was involved in his life and he had friends in a gang.
"As a juvenile emphasis is placed on rehabilitation, but if you get out and commit a felony as an adult there would be a greater emphasis placed on punishment and it will be years and years and years before you get out," Antosz said.
Become a Subscriber!
You have read all of your free articles this month. Select a plan below to start your subscription today.
Already a subscriber? Login
