Man Get 60 Years-To-Life For Fatal Shooting Of Martinez Teen

A Bay Point man received a 60-year-to-life sentence in Contra Costa County Superior Court on Friday for the fatal 2012 shooting of a 17-year-old.

Daniel Castano, 21, was sentenced on first-degree murder charges, as well as gun and gang enhancements, prosecutors said.

Castano was arrested in Antioch on Dec. 22, 2012, on suspicion of murder and for participating in a criminal street gang, according to prosecutors.

On Sep. 6, 2012, Castano shot Martinez resident Fernando Gonzalez several times as Gonzalez sat in his car near the corner of Marina Road and Inlet Drive in Bay Point, prosecutors said. Emergency responders pronounced Gonzalez dead at the scene.

During the trial, Castano maintained that he did not commit the murder, according to his attorney Anthony Ashe. Ashe said an eyewitness who was in the vehicle with Gonzalez when he was shot recognized Castano and named him as the person who did the shooting.

“She had grown up with (Castano),” Ashe said.

A video also captured an image of a man who looked similar to Castano near the scene of the shooting at about the time of the crime, Ashe said. Castano had testified during the trial that it was a case of mistaken identity, according to Ashe.

--Bay City News