Southern Californian Marcus Anthony Eriz has been sentenced to 40-years-to-life in prison for the road-rage murder of a 6-year-old boy traveling to kindergarten.
It was the maximum sentence allowed.
Eriz of Costa Mesa was a passenger in a Volkswagen driven by his girlfriend that cut off driver Joanna Cloonan along State Route 55 in a near miss in 2021. When Cloonan flipped off the couple, the Volkwagen chased down her vehicle, and Eriz fired, fatally striking Cloonan's son, Aiden Leos, who was in a car seat in the back.
The bullet pierced Aiden's liver, lung and heart, and he died a short time later in a local hospital
Eriz was arrested two weeks later during an "intense manhunt" by the California Highway Patrol.
Superior Court Judge Richard King said in a video of the sentencing that Aiden was the "most vulnerable victim that you can even imagine, going to kindergarten being driven by his mom."
He added: "I don't think the English language can even attempt, for anybody, to even describe what Aiden's mother went through after he said 'ouch,'" King said. "She pulls over, and her little boy dies in her arms."
Earlier Eriz had told the court: "He was a son, a little brother and a friend to others. He looked as if he brightened up the world everywhere he went and truly one of God's little angels."
Eriz added: "I am so sorry for ever hurting him and for the pain that he went through because of me. He never deserved it. And neither did his family."
Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, is still awaiting trial. She's charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact, and a misdemeanor count relating to a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
She has pleaded not guilty.
