Tulare man, 20, sentenced to 94 years to life in prison

A 20-year-old Tulare man has been sentenced to 94 years to life in state prison for attempted murder.

The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office reports that on Feb. 22, 2012, the defendant, Manden Torres, was convicted of one count of attempted murder with a special allegation of committing the crime at the direction of a criminal street gang and an additional special allegation of personally using a firearm. Torres was also convicted of one count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, including both of the aforementioned special allegations, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In all the counts, the jury also found Torres had three prior strike convictions.

On Thursday, Tulare County Judge Gary Paden also ordered Torres to pay restitution to the victims of the crimes in an amount yet to be determined as well as $6,000 in restitution fines.

According to court documents, at just after 12:30 p.m. on March 10, 2011, Torres, along with three other gang members, walked up to the victims’ home in the 500 block of South E Street in Tulare and opened fire at three people standing in the carport area of the home. Torres, who was 18 years old at the time, was identified shortly afterward at a nearby house.

The shooting was a retaliation shooting for an argument that occurred earlier in the day involving a rival gang member. The victims of the crime were not involved with the earlier altercation and were not gang members. One of the victims was wearing a blue shirt, which is the color of the defendant’s rival gang.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Mikki Verissimo. The case was investigated by Tulare Police Department Detective Jess Guzman and District Attorney Investigator Eric Velasquez.