60-year prison sentence for gang member with criminal past

Original Article by Valarie Wigglesworth at Dallas Morning News on 8-1-18

A violent gang member with a criminal past was sentenced Tuesday to 60 years in prison for leading police on a high-speed chase through Collin County.

Jurors found Arnulfo Mercado-Pena Jr. of Paris, Texas, guilty of evading arrest with a vehicle while using a deadly weapon, according to the Collin County district attorney’s office.

Arnulfo Mercado-Pena Jr. was sentenced to 60 years in prison after his latest conviction.

State District Judge John Roach Jr. presided over the trial. Roach ruled that the 32-year-old man’s previous convictions — including aggravated sexual assault of a child, failure to stop and render aid, aggravated assault and failure to register as a sex offender — made him a habitual offender. The judge’s finding increased the possible punishment for the third-degree felony.

Roach imposed the sentence after a two-day trial.

According to prosecutors, a Princeton police officer spotted Mercado-Pena speeding at 98 mph on U.S. Highway 380 in October 2017. The officer tried to pull Mercado-Pena over, but he kept driving. After several miles, Mercado-Pena turned off the highway, slowed down and jumped out of the moving vehicle. He was arrested after a brief chase on foot.

A Plano police officer testified that Mercado-Pena’s tattoos on his arms, legs, chest, back and face identify him as a gang member.

As part of their verdict, jurors found that Mercado-Pena used his vehicle as a deadly weapon.

Mercado-Pena plans to appeal, according to a motion for a new trial filed Wednesday.