AUSTIN — The third man involved in a 2012 drive-by shooting in Austin was sentenced last week in Mower County District Court to 39 months in prison by Judge Fred Wellmann.
Fidel Molina, who turned 32 on the day of his sentencing, had previously accepted a plea agreement, pleading guilty to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in exchange for the dismissal of a felony firearms violation.
The incident occurred when brothers Raymundo and Reynaldo Veraza drove by Molina's northeast Austin home on the evening of Dec. 3, according to the court complaint. Accounts vary widely of how the altercation began, but the end result was shots being exchanged from a handgun and a rifle. Reynaldo Veraza was treated at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin after being shot in the chest.
Raymundo, 35, was sentenced March 28 to 60 months in prison, while also receiving a lifetime ban on weapons. He accepted a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to a felony firearms violation and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in exchange for the dismissal of a first-degree riot-armed with a dangerous weapon and a dangerous weapon-drive-by shooting charge.
Reynaldo, 36, was sentenced April 12 to five years of supervised probation. His year and a day jail time was stayed. The elder brother pleaded guilty to second-degree riot with a dangerous weapon in exchange for the dismissal of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and dangerous weapon-drive-by shooting.
