By Khalida Sarwari
The sentencing of two men convicted of murdering Los Gatos restaurateur Mark Achilli was postponed today.
Esequiel “Paul” Garcia and Miguel Chaidez were found guilty last year in the shooting death of 53-year-old Mark Achilli.
Achilli was gunned down in the driveway of his Overlook Road townhouse on the morning of March 14, 2008.
A third man, Lucio Estrada, was also convicted of first-degree murder and, along with Garcia and Chaidez, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Garcia appeared in court this afternoon, handcuffed and wearing a red jumpsuit. Chaidez appeared before him, dressed in an orange jumpsuit.
A handful of Achilli’s family and friends were also in attendance.
Sentencing for Chaidez was scheduled for today, but his attorney was ill. He was ordered to return on March 17.
Garcia’s sentencing was pushed back to March 10 because his attorney, Harry Robertson, has not yet finished writing a motion asking for a new trial, according to District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
Whether Robertson remains Garcia’s attorney, however, remains to be seen. Judge David Cena set a Feb. 23 date to determine whether he will continue representing Garcia, Rosen said.
Rosen said Chaidez’s attorney will also ask for a new trial.
Achilli owned the popular downtown Los Gatos nightspot Mountain Charley’s saloon and the adjacent 180 Restaurant until 2007, when he sold them to Garcia.
Prosecutors claimed that Garcia orchestrated Achilli’s death because Tessa Donnelly, a woman they had both dated, ultimately chose him over Garcia.
They said Garcia paid Daniel Chaidez, a cousin of Miguel Chaidez and a bouncer at Mountain Charley’s, $9,500 in two separate payments for the job. Miguel Chaidez then contacted Estrada in Southern California and paid him to kill Achilli, prosecutors said.