Mikal Wilde Found Guilty of First Degree Murder

This is a press release from the US Attorney’s Office. 

This morning, a federal jury found Mikal X. Wilde guilty of six felonies including

• Using a Firearm to Commit First Degree Murder, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(j),
• Murder in the Course of a Narcotics Offense, in violation of 21 U.S.C. ‘ 848(e)(1)(A),
• Conspiracy to Commit Marijuana Offenses, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841,
• Marijuana Offenses, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841,
• and two counts of Using a Firearm During a Crime of Violence or Narcotics Trafficking Offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c),

announced U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson.  The charges stemmed from the defendant’s murder of Mario Roberto Juarez-Madrid and the shooting of Pedro Fernando Lopez-Paz on August 25, 2010, on the defendant’s marijuana farm in Humboldt County, California.

Evidence at trial showed that Wilde, 33, of Kneeland, Calif., began a large marijuana grow with more than 1500 plants on over 800 acres of mountain property in Kneeland, California – close to Eureka – during the summer of 2010. In the course of his marijuana cultivation operation, Wilde hired three workers to water and care for the plants, including Mr. Juarez-Madrid and Mr. Lopez-Paz, both from Guatemala. During August of 2010, Wilde provided the workers with firearms to protect against robberyof the marijuana grow.

In late August, the workers became unhappy and wanted to leave with payment for the work they had already performed after Wilde altered their work conditions. Rather than paying the workers, Wilde took the firearms away from them, and on August 25, 2010, returned to the property armed, and shot them.  Wilde shot Mr. Lopez-Paz in the face, but he survived, hiding in the woods all night until he found help the following morning. Wilde shot Mr. Juarez-Madrid three times and hunted him down, with the final shot a contact wound to the back of Mr. Juarez-Madrid’s head. The third worker, Christopher Bigelow, also fled into the woods and hid until he was found by a jogger the following morning.  The jury found the defendant guilty of a premeditated first degree murder, in addition to the other charges listed above.

Wilde is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3, 2015, by the Honorable Edward M. Chen, U.S. District Judge. The defendant faces a possible sentence of a mandatory minimum 55 years up to two terms of life in prison, a $1.5 million fine, and five years of supervised release.  However, any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kimberly Hopkins and William Frentzen, paralegal specialist Kevin Costello, and legal techs Lance Libatique, Ponly Tu, Daniel Charlier-Smith, and Marina Ponomarchuk.  The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Francisco Division and Sacramento Division; Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office; Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office; United States Marshals Service; California Highway Patrol; CalFire; and Redding Police Department.