By STACI GUY

Daily Press Staff Writer

A 23-year-old Artesia man will spend the next 15 years in prison for his part in a double shooting last February at the intersection of 10th and Main streets.

In December, a jury panel found 23-year-old Shawn Jimenez guilty of multiple felonies, including a second-degree count of shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, two third-degree counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon causing great bodily harm and a fourth-degree count of tampering with evidence.

Jimenez was sentenced this week in District Court to the maximum 15-year penalty with the exception of a three-year enhancement for a firearm having been involved. According to state laws, he must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

“Shawn was found guilty by a jury of his peers, which is the American justice system at its best,” Artesia Police Department spokesman Sgt. Lindell Smith told the Daily Press this morning when asked to comment on Jimenez’s sentence.

Smith said their department wants to make known to the public that there are “stiff penalties” for those who commit violent crimes. “When that happens, people can expect, for one thing, that the Artesia Police Department will conduct a thorough and lengthy investigation, and two, they can expect stiff penalties if they commit these types of crimes.”

According to Smith, the police department as a whole is pleased with Jimenez’s sentence. “I believe all of the officers and detectives did a thorough job in investigating this case and I have confidence that that will be the case in the future,” he said.

The charges stem from an incident that began just after 12 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2009, when Artesia residents Leticia McHenry, Joseph Lente and Benny Murillo stopped at Town & Country Food Store at the corner of First and Main streets to get gas and make a purchase. After leaving the store, the three allegedly began traveling west on Main Street when they noticed a “white Jeep Cherokee with shiny rims” pull up next to them at the intersection of 10th and Main streets.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Artesia Magistrate Court, McHenry told officers she recognized the car as one driven by Rickey “Leon” Jimenez Jr., who she said she knew from school. Murillo told officers the Jeep pulled up next to them and “someone just started shooting at them.”

According to the complaint, Ricky Jr. told police while he and his brother were traveling west on Main, they pulled up next to a brown Mercury Cougar and said Shawn made a statement about having a “beef” with people in the car. According to the complaint, he said Shawn then rolled down the window, pulled out a handgun and began shooting at the other car.

Later the same morning, Shawn Jimenez met with officers and allegedly admitted to the shootings. He said he believed at least one of the individuals in the car was someone else.

Lente sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder, which penetrated his torso and McHenry sustained a gunshot wound to her hip. Murillo allegedly drove them to Artesia General Hospital for treatment and Lente was later transported to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque in serious condition. The two have since recovered.

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