Man Who Killed College Student Mistaken for Rival Gang Member Sentenced to 27 Years

BAY AREA, CA – A member of the MS-13 gang was sentenced in federal court in San Francisco Tuesday to 27 and one-half years in prison for racketeering and the fatal shooting of a college student in Daly City in 2009.

Jaime Balam, 27, a Mexican citizen, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Alsup.

He pleaded guilty before Alsup in August to nine counts, including using a gun to kill Moises Frias, 21, as he and three companions sat in their car near the Daly City BART station on Feb. 19, 2009.

Other counts he pleaded guilty to included racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, and attempting to murder Frias's three companions.

Balam admitted in his plea agreement that he was a member of the MS-13 or Mara Salvatrucha gang and was one of three MS-13 members who went "hunting" in a stolen car for rival Norteno gang members to kill on that day.

The MS-13 members spotted Frias and his companions in another car, believed they were Norteno members and followed their car from the Excelsior District of San Francisco to Daly City.

When the victims' car stopped at a traffic light near the BART station, Balam and fellow gang member Danilo Velasquez jumped out of their vehicle and opened fire, killing Frias and severely wounding two of his
companions.

Frias was killed with shots from the semi-automatic pistol used by Balam, prosecutors said in a sentencing brief.

The four victims were not members of a gang, but rather were former high school classmates who met for dinner once a week. Two of them were wearing caps decorated with red, the color of the Nortenos, according to prosecutors.

Frias had been studying business at San Francisco City College while working part-time for the city's Public Utilities Commission.

MS-13 member Luis Herrera, who drove the stolen car, pleaded guilty in the middle of a trial in 2011 to charges including racketeering and murder conspiracy. He was sentenced by Alsup to 35 years in prison.
Velasquez was convicted in the jury trial of similar charges and was sentenced to life plus 10 years in prison.
Balam's sentence of 27 years and six months was agreed to by prosecutors and defense lawyers in his plea agreement.

As part of the bargain, prosecutors dropped a 10th count in which Balam was charged with murder in aid of racketeering. A conviction on that charge would have carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Balam was arrested in San Francisco a week after the shooting and was deported to Mexico before his involvement in the case was known.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2012 and was eventually extradited to the United States in 2015.

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--Bay City News/Shutterstock photo