A 26-year-old Costa Mesa man who in the midst of a 2021 road rage confrontation in freeway rush hour traffic fired the gunshot that killed a 6-year-old boy riding in the back seat of his mother’s car was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life in prison.
An emotional Marcus Anthony Eriz apologized for killing Aiden Leos, and in the midst of his sentencing hearing in a Santa Ana courtroom offered a prayer to both Leos’ family — referring to Aiden as “truly one of God’s little angels” – and for his own forgiveness.
“I’m so sorry for putting everyone through this,” Eriz said. “I hurt everyone around me. I am responsible for everyone’s pain and suffering.”
Despite Eriz’s contrition — as well as his young age at the time of the shooting and claims of trauma in his childhood — Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard M. King denied a defense request to dismiss a gun-related enhancement. Such a ruling would have resulted in a much shorter sentence of 15 years to life behind bars.
The judge described Aiden as “the most vulnerable victim we could ever imagine.” King noted that the boy died in his mothers arms, adding that “I don’t think the English language can even attempt, or anyone describe, what Aiden’s mother went through…
“In that particular moment, you had the power, and that power was the handgun,” King told Eriz. “Whether it was to impress your girlfriend or show your power, you fired. And that little boy died.”
A jury earlier this year deliberated for around two hours before finding Eriz guilty of second-degree murder. That Eriz fired the gunshot that killed Leos was never disputed during his trial, but the defense argued that he was guilty of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Eriz, during Friday’s hearing, told the judge that he understood he would be spending a long time in prison, and indicated he wanted to use that time to turn his life around.
“I want to earn a second chance, not be given one,” Eriz said.
Defense attorney Randall Bethune argued that since his arrest, Eriz had never denied being responsible for Aiden’s death.
“There was never an excuse from Mr. Eriz, ever,” Bethune told the judge. “He owns it. He has owned it since the beginning.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman acknowledged Eriz’s apology, but argued that it didn’t change what he did or the depth of pain suffered by Aiden’s mother.
“Earning a second chance first begins with a payment of debt,” the prosecutor told Judge King.
Aiden’s mother did not attend the sentencing.
Joined by DA Todd Spitzer, Feldman following the sentencing hearing spoke of the larger impact the fatal road rage shooting had on the community.
“This was a big deal, it really took at a toll on our community,” Feldman said. “I think that Mr. Eriz tore at the very fabric that holds us together and the trust we share.”
Aiden’s mother, Joanna Cloonan, and Eriz, as a passenger in a car driven by his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, were both heading northbound from their respective Costa Mesa homes on the busy 55 Freeway during a morning commute. Eriz and Lee were on their way to the Highland auto-repair shop they worked at, while the mother was taking her son to Calvary Chapel Pre-School in Yorba Linda.
Lee, in her Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen, sped up behind Cloonan’s Chevrolet Sonic in the carpool lane. Lee abruptly moved around Cloonan’s car and then jumped immediately back into the carpool lane, cutting Cloonan and off and brake-checking her. Lee flashed a peace sign, but the mother took the gesture as less than genuine.
Cloonan exited the carpool lane, pulled up next to Lee’s car and flashed her middle finger in the direction of Lee and Eriz, who was in the front passenger seat of the Volkswagen. The mother later described briefly making eye contact with Eriz, long enough to see him smile. She then started merging to the right, away from the Volkswagen, as she prepared to leave the freeway.
The mother heard a loud noise, which she compared to a big rock hitting her car. Aiden, from his booster seat behind his mother, exclaimed “ow!” Cloonan looked back and saw Aiden’s head hanging down.
A single gunshot had ripped through the trunk of Cloonan’s car before entering Aiden’s back, traveling through his liver and lung, piercing his heart and exiting his right abdomen.
The mother screamed, “Aiden! Aiden! Aiden!” as she held the dying boy in her arms on the side of the freeway and desperately struggled to explain to a 911 operator what had happened.
An off-duty Seal Beach police officer pulled over to perform CPR on the boy. But within the hour he was dead.
Another driver witnessed the confrontation and shooting, and was able to provide investigators with a photo that generally depicted the Volkswagen but was too blurry for them to be able to make out the license plate.
A massive manhunt stretched on for more than two weeks.
Commuters drove under two dozen banners reading “Who shot Aiden?” which were draped over overpasses in Orange County and the Inland Empire. California Highway Patrol investigators, with the help of other local departments, went door to door seeking security footage from every business with security cameras along the 55 Freeway. Meanwhile, the reward for finding those responsible for Aiden’s death grew to $500,000.
Investigators, looking at the trim and tires of the vehicle caught in surveillance footage compared to DMV records, narrowed their search to several dozen specific cars, including the Volkswagen driven by Lee and owned by her parents. A tipster reached out to tell investigators that Lee and Eriz had been driving in a vehicle matching the description authorities had put out, before switching to coming to work in Eriz’s red pickup truck.
Eriz and Lee were arrested as they pulled up to their Costa Mesa apartment complex. Minutes into his interrogation, Eriz admitted shooting at Cloonan’s vehicle, telling officers that the mother had “started acting hostile toward us.”
There was no evidence presented during the trial that Eriz was aware the boy was in the car, or that he intended to kill the mother.
During the police interview, Eriz struggled to fully explain his actions, at one point telling investigators, “I don’t know why, I have no answer why, but I pulled out my Glock and pulled the trigger, and it was gone.”
During the trial, the prosecution argued that Eriz felt disrespected by Cloonan, and had been “carrying the Glock around for months, waiting for someone to get out of line.” The defense countered that Cloonan provoked Eriz, causing him to make a split-second decision and act rashly in the heat of passion.
Lee, who is also 26, faces lesser charges of being an accessory after the fact. She is being tried separately, though her jury trial has not yet been scheduled.
