KCK gang member gets more jail time

By Carolyn Szczepanski in Follow That Story

Fri., Mar. 27 2009 @ 7:30AM

Last year, when a second jury failed to convict Jose Franco, Jr. on murder charges related to the death of toddler Yelena Guzman, Wyandotte County's Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Russell said he'd try the alleged gang leader a third time. In October, when a judge sentenced Franco to 10 years on a conspiracy charge related to the crime, Russell was still aiming for another trial that would have started this month. It seemed, in the case of Familia Loca, the county was determined to extract the maximum penalty of law.

Earlier this month, Franco finally pleaded guilty to one count of criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied dwelling. Yesterday, Judge Ernest Johnson sentenced Franco to 180 months on that charge -- to serve concurrently with his earlier sentence.

With the added jail time, Franco won't get out until his own young son is old enough to serve on a jury. Hopefully, that will come as some comfort to Ramona Moreno and Fernando Guzman, who will mark the second anniversary of their daughter's death next week.