Judge rejects plea offer in case involving manhunt
A Superior Court judge on Thursday rejected a plea deal for the man who prompted a manhunt after he fled from police last year following a traffic stop, saying he didn’t think the fourand-a-half year prison sentence was appropriate.
Enrique Corona Jr., who remains in custody at the Yuma County jail on a $400,000 bond, entered a voluntary guilty plea in a plea offer from prosecutors on Feb. 15, to one count of burglary, in which he admitted he broke into a home and stole $15,000 worth of guns and ammunition.
Corona has two cases against him and has been charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and four counts of burglary.
He has also been charged with one count of unlawful flight from pursuing law enforcement, possession of a dangerous drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, misconduct involving weapons, one of theft and one of resisting arrest.
In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss those charges against him.
However, during what was supposed to be his sentencing hearing on Thursday, Superior Court Judge Larry Kenworthy informed Corona, who is represented by attorney Paul Abatte, that he planned not to follow the stipulated sentence.
As such, Kenworthy gave Corona the opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea, which he opted to do.
Kenworthy explained to Corona that, due to his previous convictions, he intended to impose a stiffer punishment than what was in his plea deal, which was six-and-a-half years in the manhunt case and two-anda-half years in the burglary case and that the two would be served consecutively.
Abatte then asked for a change of judge. Kenworthy granted his request, but only for the manhunt case, saying he intended to continue presiding over the burglary case.
Before any of this happened, however, the victim in the burglary case addressed the court, telling the judge some of the other items Corona stole had no value to him, but are irreplaceable.
The victim told the court that some of the items Corona took were his military medals and awards, his VA medical records, some pictures and his original discharge papers and birth certificate.
“I don’t understand why he took them. They mean nothing to him,” the man said. “They were taken just to hurt.”
The case now heads to trial. A status hearing was also set for 8:30 a.m. on April 20.
According to Yuma police, the incident began shortly after 9 p.m on Jan. 14, 2016, when members of the department’s Special Operations Group attempted to make a traffic stop on a vehicle being driven by Corona in the area of 8th Street and 7th Avenue.
Corona allegedly refused to stop and fled the area. Officers later located the vehicle in the area of Kennedy Lane, near the railroad tracks. Upon seeing officers again, he reportedly ran from them and eventually ended up in a fenced commercial yard in the 600 block of East 20th Street.
Additional officers then converged on the scene and set up a perimeter in the area. During the search, officers flooded the lot looking for Corona. A Customs and Border Protection helicopter also hovered overhead using a spotlight to illuminate the area.
Officers and Border Patrol agents were able to eventually locate and arrest Corona. He was wanted in connection with numerous felony offenses, including narcotics, and he was booked into the Yuma County jail.