A Tucson man accused of fatally shooting a 17-year-old boy on New Year's Eve had repeatedly violated his probation in the months leading up to the shooting, testing positive on one drug test, skipping numerous others and failing to show up for appointments with his probation officer.
Despite Keanu Dean Castaneda's repeated violations over five months, probation officials didn't ask the court to revoke his probation on theft and burglary convictions, or increase his level of supervision, until Jan. 5, the day after Castaneda was arrested for murder.
David Sanders, the county's chief probation officer, said Casteneda's probation officer and the officer's supervisor decided three days before the slaying to ask a judge to increase Castaneda's level of supervision, but the paperwork was never filed.
Carlos Sandoval was killed Dec. 31, Castaneda was arrested Jan. 4 and a petition to revoke his probation was filed the following day.
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The Sandoval family declined to comment for this story.
Castaneda, 19, is one of five people charged in the murder. Authorities believe the group went to a home on the east side intending to steal a pound of marijuana. Castaneda told detectives he was the one who shot Sandoval, court documents indicate.
Pima County Superior Court Judge John Leonardo placed Castaneda on two concurrent three-year terms of probation on June 10 after Castaneda pleaded guilty to theft by control and second-degree burglary in connection with two separate property crimes.
Court documents indicate Castaneda was initially arrested on Jan. 13, 2011, after he placed an ad on Craigslist offering to sell a stolen $6,000 bicycle for $500. When investigators ran his fingerprints, they discovered a match with those found on a piggy bank that was looted during a January 2010 residential burglary. That burglary resulted in a loss of $6,000 worth of jewelry and electronics for the homeowner.
Castaneda was given all of the rules he needed to follow during his first meeting with his probation officer in July, Sanders said.
On Aug. 25, Castaneda tested positive for cocaine and marijuana and was referred to a counseling agency, Sanders said.
Castaneda failed to submit to eight subsequent random drug tests. He was also a no-show for meetings with his probation officer in October and November.
Probation officers couldn't find Castaneda until he came in on his own Dec. 8, Sanders said.
"He was told this was his last chance," Sanders said.
When Castaneda didn't show up for his next appointment on Dec. 28, his probation officer met with his supervisor, Sanders said. The decision was made to ask Leonardo to increase Castaneda's standard probation to intensive probation, which, in part, requires defendants to follow a pre-approved schedule.
It's unclear why the motion to modify Castaneda's probation wasn't filed, but Sanders said failing to report for a meeting wouldn't have been considered an emergency, even with Castaneda's past behavior on probation.
"We sometimes spend weeks, if not months, trying to get people to comply with the terms of their probation," Sanders said.
If the paperwork had been filed, an initial court appearance would have been held within a week, but no decisions would have been made.
The violation hearing itself would have been scheduled for seven to 20 days later, Sanders said.
Every year, labs perform 50,000 drug tests for Pima County Adult Probation and 5,000 of those tests come back positive, Sanders said.
Positive tests are considered "technical" violations of probation, Sanders said. Motions to revoke are usually filed when someone on probation commits a new crime.
In fiscal year 2011-12, 84 percent of people on standard probation successfully completed their probation, Sanders said. Seventy-four percent of those on intensive probation successfully finished.
On StarNet: Follow the news and events at Pima County's courthouses in Kim Smith's blog, At the Courthouse, at go.azstarnet.com/courthouse
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
