The California man accused of fatally shooting a 6-year-old boy in the back of his mother’s car during a road rage attack has been convicted of manslaughter.
An Orange County jury returned a verdict Thursday in the trial of 26-year-old Marcus Anthony Eriz, who was found guilty of killing Aiden Leos as his mother drove him to school on Highway 55.
The Costa Mesa man was also found guilty of causing great bodily harm and death and of shooting into an occupied vehicle. He will be sentenced on April 12 and faces up to 40 years in prison.
According to testimony from Aiden’s mother, Joanna Cloonan, who took the stand Monday, a Volkswagen SportWagen swerved “out of the carpool lane” and in front of her car as they were driving down the highway in May 2021.
After cutting her off, Eriz’s friend Wynne Lee, who was driving, flashed a “peace sign.”
“I didn’t want to be around these people,” Cloonan said. “I left the carpool lane. We sat next to each other. I made a gesture. And I started to separate myself from them.”
Marcus Eriz Anthony has been found guilty of shooting six-year-old Aiden Leos, who was killed in May 2021 as his mother walked him to school
Aiden’s mother, Jessica Cloonan, testified Monday that she briefly made eye contact with Eriz, who smiled at her after she gave him and his girlfriend the finger for cutting in front of her.
The toddler (pictured with Cloonan, left, and sister Alexis, right) was pronounced dead at hospital after a bullet pierced his liver, lungs and heart
Eriz (pictured at the time of his arrest in 2021) was found guilty of manslaughter on Thursday. His girlfriend, Wynne Lee, was driving the car at the time of the incident and has a hearing scheduled for next month.
The “gesture,” she acknowledged, was the middle finger — a gesture prosecutors said she would “regret beyond words.”
Cloonan testified that she briefly made eye contact with Eriz, who was sitting in the passenger seat. “He looked at me and smiled after the gesture,” she said.
Moments later she heard a crash, followed by a scream from her son. She turned around and saw him slumping over.
Cloonan stopped and frantically called 911. An off-duty police officer and paramedics tried to save her son, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators later determined that a bullet tore through the trunk of the Chevrolet Sonic before entering Aiden’s body and puncturing his liver, lungs and heart.
The six-year-old was murdered just ten days after his birthday.
Cloonan, who burst into tears when the accuser showed a photo of her six-year-old son, denied ever posing a danger to the couple.
Eriz readily admitted his role in Aiden’s death during a police interrogation.
“We went in front of that lady, the lady came towards us and started behaving hostilely towards us,” Eriz told police. “I don’t know why, I don’t have an answer as to why, but I pulled out my Glock and pulled the trigger, and it was gone.”
The Costa Mesa man was also found guilty of causing great bodily harm and death, and of shooting into an occupied vehicle
Eriz told investigators during an interrogation that he only learned he was responsible for the boy’s death a week after the shooting, but that he did not turn himself in because he did not want Lee to get into trouble.
Cloonan testified that she heard something hit her car (pictured) before Aiden screamed. When she turned around, the little boy slumped over
As authorities began a two-week manhunt for Aiden’s killer, they say Eriz hid the vehicle in a relative’s garage and altered its appearance
Lee (pictured at a 2022 hearing) showed Cloonan a peace sign after cutting her off on the highway, prompting Cloonan to give her the finger
Lee, who was 23 at the time of her arrest, faces one felony count of accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of possession of a concealed weapon. She is being tried separately
As for his motives, the 26-year-old said: “I don’t have an answer. Because I’m stupid? I didn’t think of the consequences, nor did anyone else.’
Eriz told investigators he didn’t learn he was responsible for the boy’s death until a week after the shooting.
But he decided not to turn himself in because he believed Lee, who was 23 at the time, had done nothing wrong.
The pair were arrested after a two-week manhunt. Authorities say that during that time, Eriz stored the car in a relative’s garage, shaved his beard and changed his hairstyle.
Lee, who is being tried separately, was charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of having a concealed firearm.
Her pretrial hearing is scheduled for February 9.
‘Six-year-old boys should be playing outside in the sun, enjoying all the magic and wonder that childhood brings, not lying dead in a little child’s coffin because a man he never met decided to leave him without any money. to execute. reason,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a news release.
“While we will never know what became of Aiden, we know that the quest for justice only ended when his killer was captured and this child murderer was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“The bullet not only killed a six-year-old boy; it has left a hole in the heart of all of Orange County.”