Mexican mafia lawyer avoids prison after prosecutors withheld evidence

A former Mexican Mafia lawyer who could have faced decades, if not life, in prison will instead be prosecuted without jail time, parole or fines.

Gabriel Zendejas-Chavez was charged in 2018 with helping his incarcerated clients pass information to other gang members that aided drug distribution and exposed government informants, the Los Angeles Times reported.

While that 2018 investigation focused on Los Angeles County prisons, the FBI noted at the time that Chavez “allegedly passed Mexican Mafia messages to members of various state and federal prisons.”

He is also said to have passed on the names of possible government informants and been involved in a plan to extort $100,000 from another gang.

Chavez, 47, could have faced life in prison if he had been found guilty of four felony counts of criminal conspiracy. Instead, he pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of misdemeanor deception. The archaic term indicates that he knew a crime was being committed but failed to report that information to authorities.

His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 4, and his plea agreement means he will avoid both prison and probation, legal reporter Meghann Cuniff reports in her Substack Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff article.

Cuniff noted that “the settlement represents a significant change in approach by prosecutors, who had planned to retry Chavez along with three others who were facing trial for the first time, including Mexican Mafia leader José ‘Fox’ Landa-Rodriguez, after a jury in August 2022 was unable to reach a verdict in his first trial.”

It is information that Chavez’s lawyer Meghan Blanco said should have been made public before the first trial.

That information, which involves “notes about meetings with jailhouse informants that prosecutors previously said never happened,” contradicts testimony in the first trial, Blanco explained in Cuniff’s report.

Prosecutors admitted they “fell short” in their responsibilities and “overlooked documents that should have been produced before the defendant’s first trial,” Cuniff said.

Although prison time and probation are not an option, Chavez still expects to be disbarred, his lawyer said.