SAN FRANCISCO— A marijuana grower who was found guilty this week of murdering a migrant worker working on his farm will be sentenced in June.
Mikal X. Wilde is facing from 55 to life along with a $1.5 million fine, officials said.
Wilde murdered Mario Roberto Juarez-Madrid and shot Pedro Fernando Lopez-Paz on August 25, 2010, on the Wilde’s marijuana farm in Humboldt County, California.
Wilde was found guilty of six felonies including Using a Firearm to Commit First Degree Murder, Murder in the Course of a Narcotics Offense, Conspiracy to Commit Marijuana Offenses, Marijuana Offenses, and two counts of Using a Firearm During a Crime of Violence or Narcotics Trafficking Offense.
Evidence at trial showed the following facts:
- 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 Juarez-Madrid and Lopez-Paz, both from Guatemala.
- During August of 2010, Wilde provided the workers with firearms to protect against robbery of 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 Juarez-Madrid three times and hunted him down, with the final shot a contact wound to the back of 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.