Plea deal in a fatal jail beating

Lehto likely to get 6-year prison term

Trevor Lehto

Trevor Lehto, 24, of Crescent  City, entered the plea after the charge was lowered from second-degree murder as part of a plea deal offered by District Attorney Jon Alexander.

If the deal is accepted at Lehto’s scheduled Jan. 19 sentencing, he will serve at least 85 percent of a six-year term in prison — which is the middle range for the charge.

In October 2010, Lehto punched 33-year-old Jose Rios, who fell and hit his head on the concrete floor of the gym in the Del Norte County Jail. Rios later died from head trauma.

Lehto initially faced the second-degree murder charge after Alexander convinced Del Norte County Superior Court Judge Robert Weir at a May preliminary hearing that there was sufficient evidence to prove Lehto intentionally set out to harm Rios and  it was done in a manner understood by Lehto to be dangerous to Rios’ life. The determination was necessary to establish “implied malice,” a component of the charge.

Alexander said two considerations swayed him to offer a lesser charge.

He cited a similar case in San Diego where a man was convicted of second-degree murder after striking another man, who died of head trauma after his skull hit the pavement. The ruling was overturned last year when a state Court of Appeals deemed there was insufficient evidence to prove the assailant knew his punch would kill the man — negating the murder charge’s component of “implied malice.”

Additionally, Alexander referred to a pathologist’s testimony during the preliminary hearing about Rios having a brain hematoma prior to the assault.

“Given the (San Diego case) interpretation as well as Mr. Rios’ condition at the time of the assault, this disposition appeared entirely appropriate,” said Alexander.

Lehto  faced charges last year in connection with the 2007 hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Josh Lacy. Lehto’s charges were dismissed after several expired under the statute of limitations and as part of a plea deal for another defendant in the case.

The altercation with Rios took place about two weeks after a majority of the charges against Lehto in the Lacy case were ruled to have expired.

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