Man Convicted Of Agriculture Field Killing Near Salinas Is Sentenced

CHUALAR - An Antioch man has been sentenced to 176 years to life in state prison for the premeditated murder of one man and the premeditated attempted murder of another in an unincorporated area south of Salinas two years ago, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said.

A jury convicted Marques Adrian Gaines, 35, on March 31 for the slaying of 18-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez and attempted murder of 20-year-old Rafael Vasquez, both of Chualar, in an open agricultural field behind Vasquez's home in Chualar just before midnight on June 9, 2014.

Gaines also was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors said Vasquez and Rodriguez had been test-firing a handgun in the field behind Vasquez's home but when they walked home Gaines shot at them from behind from the back porch of Vasquez's next-door neighbor.

The evidence at Gaines' trial, according to prosecutors, showed that Gaines had been upset with Vasquez for not helping him retaliate against a mutual acquaintance who had beaten up Gaines when he was dealing drugs in Salinas' Chinatown District.

Gaines had made threats against Vasquez and his friends in the months leading up to the shooting and he specifically mentioned the Magnum Research Baby Desert Eagle firearm he later used to shoot Vasquez and Rodriguez, prosecutors said.

After the shooting, Gaines hid his firearm in a toilet tank and had his ex-girlfriend drive him and their baby to Antioch, according to prosecutors.

Once they were in Antioch, Gaines told his ex-girlfriend to lie about where he had been that night, prosecutors said.

-Bay City News, image via ShutterStock