Man who killed 6-year-old in freeway shooting gets 40 years to life

Marcus Eriz was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison Friday for fatally shooting 6-year-old Aiden Leos on the 55 Freeway in Orange in 2021. Eriz’s defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Randall Bethune, asked King to strike the firearms enhancement and give Eriz probation, saying the killing was “a horrible, horrible mistake” and “absolutely an anomaly as to who Mr. Eriz really is.” He said Eriz’s years in jail had so far not left him institutionally hardened. Daniel Feldman, asking for the maximum sentence of 40 years to life, said that to listen to the 911 tape was to hear “a depth of pain I have never heard before.” Feldman said the defendant’s apology sounded sincere, but he had chosen to pull the trigger while never being in danger from the other car. “What he instilled in our community was fear.” Aiden’s mother chose not to appear in court for the sentencing, and at a news conference afterward, Feldman said, “We were very grateful that we could stand for her.” Marcus Eriz is escorted from court by a deputy after his sentencing Friday. “That’s what we are living with in California today,” Spitzer said, denouncing laws enacted in recent years that permit leniency for defendants 25 and under, which he said originated with “college professors in their ivory towers who study brain development.” Eriz’s co-defendent, Lee, of Costa Mesa, is charged with being an accessory after the fact and having a concealed firearm in a car.