2019 Murder Trial Sentencing Outcome

Defendants Convicted in 2018 Galena Murder Prosecution Sentenced to Lengthy Prison Terms

The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office has released the sentencing results of a 2019 murder trial involving three defendants that ended with guilty verdicts. Quentin Daniel Moore 23yrs from Reno, Jamil Geronimo 24yrs, from Sparks and Tyler Matthew Bautista Hernandez 22yrs, from Sparks were found guilty after a three-week jury trial in District Court last September.   All three defendants were sentenced last week. Moore was convicted of one count of First Degree Murder with the Use of a Deadly Weapon, one count of Battery with the Use of a Deadly Weapon for a separate victim, one count of Discharging a Firearm from a Vehicle, one count of Challenge to Fight, one count of Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and was sentenced to life in prison, with parole eligibility only after he serves 40 years.   Geronimo was convicted of one count of First Degree Murder with the Use of a Deadly Weapon, three counts of Battery with the Use of a Deadly Weapon for separate victims, two counts of Discharging a Firearm from a Vehicle/Building, one count of Assault with a Deadly Weapon and one count of Carrying a Concealed Weapon, and was sentenced to life in prison, with parole eligibility only after he serves 51 years.   Hernandez, who was the driver and did not shoot any gun, was convicted of one count of Involuntary Manslaughter, and was sentenced to 4 years in prison, with parole eligibility only after he serves 19 months.

This case began in the early morning hours on June 24, 2018 when the Reno Police Department (RPD) responded to The Loving Cup bar in downtown Reno on a report of shots fired. When officers arrived, they met with three victims who had been shot. Surveillance footage identified the three defendants, and captured Geronimo shooting a handgun multiple times down a crowded hallway. A mere 30 minutes later, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) responded to a shots fired call in a residential neighborhood in the area of Galena Meadows Drive and White Cedar Drive, and located additional victims who had also been confronted by the three defendants following a house party. After a lengthy investigation by WCSO detectives, it was determined that Moore and Geronimo had fired 20 shots from two handguns at several partygoers, hitting one person in the head and killing him and striking a second person in the arm and hand. At least two houses also were struck by the defendants’ gunfire. The investigation revealed that Hernandez, who was with Moore and Geronimo, was driving. After the shooting, the defendants fled the Galena neighborhood and went swimming in a local hotel-casino’s pool. Later that day, the defendants fled to California. Geronimo and Hernandez were located and arrested several weeks later in San Diego, California, and Moore was located and arrested a couple of months later. Based on the investigation, which was greatly assisted by the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office – Forensic Science Division, the Washoe County Medical Examiner and Coroner’s Office, and the San Diego Police Department, this office filed formal criminal charges against the three defendants. The case proceeded to jury trial before the Honorable Chief Judge Scott Freeman, wherein the jury found the defendants guilty of the respective charges.

At sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Zach Young argued that all three defendants presented a significant threat and danger to the community, which warranted severe sentences. CDDA Young highlighted that the first shooting occurred in a crowded downtown bar where innocent patrons were simply socializing, the second shooting which took the life of a young man occurred in a residential neighborhood while families and children slept, and that after both shootings the defendants showed a complete lack of remorse or care by swimming.

After Moore was sentenced by Chief Judge Freeman to the maximum penalty allowed by law, Moore turned to the deceased victim’s family and yelled disparaging and offensive comments about the victim. Moore’s outburst required that he be restrained by deputies and court bailiffs.