A man who underwent surgical castration after he was shot in the groin during a police raid has been sentenced to five years in prison for firing at the officers.
Guillermo Urquiza, 27, said he was asleep at home in April 2006 when a police SWAT team burst in to arrest him and look for evidence that he had solicited an informant to kill a police officer.
Urquiza allegedly shot at the officers but didn’t hit anyone. The officers, who said they fired after hearing gunshots, wounded Urquiza in the groin and stomach. He has since undergone seven surgeries, including the castration.
Urquiza was never indicted on a charge of solicitation of capital murder, the original reason police raided the home. He was charged with two counts of assault, and a jury convicted him on one count Tuesday, giving him the minimum sentence of five years.
His attorney, Scott Palmer, said Urquiza never had a chance to identify the intruders as police officers.
“It was 12:15 a.m. He’d been asleep for about an hour. Not a sound was made until they took the doors off the hinges,” Palmer said.
The prosecution argued that Urquiza knew the men entering his home were police officers. The officers testified they yelled “Police! Police!” and that their uniforms were clearly marked.
Urquiza, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is to be deported upon release.