SHEBOYGAN - An Oostburg man has been found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide.

On Tuesday, a jury found Sergio Moises Ochoa, 43, guilty of killing two men in an Oostburg home in July 2017, though he said he shot them in self-defense.

He was originally charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, a more serious charge. First-degree reckless homicide means he acted with an utter disregard for human life.

Ochoa was charged in early August 2017 after police found Luis Garcia of Oostburg and Fernando Lara Lopez of Milwaukee dead in an Oostburg home. They had been shot several times.

Only three people knew what happened in the home that night, said Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski during closing statements Monday afternoon.

"Unfortunately only one of them is still alive," he said.

'He took the ultimate action.'

Ochoa testified last week that his cousin, Garcia, became agitated and aggressive in the early morning hours of July 30, 2017, after Ochoa went to his house. Ochoa said Garcia, 42, wanted to know why he wasn't the godfather of one of Ochoa's children and why Ochoa hadn't visited him in a while.

Ochoa said his cousin and Lopez, 43, had a reputation for being violent, and he knew they used drugs. He'd previously kicked them out of his house for using cocaine during a get-together to plan for his child's first communion, he said.

Lopez had a pocket knife out, Ochoa said, and as Garcia became more agitated, Ochoa tried to calm him down. Garcia took a boxing stance and told Ochoa to hit him, Ochoa said. While Ochoa struggled with the door knob to leave, he said, Garcia pulled out another knife behind him and Lopez made comments in Spanish along the lines of, "You're so done."

When Lopez reached quickly toward his waistband, Ochoa said, Ochoa drew his gun and fired, shooting Lopez three times. Garcia lunged at Ochoa, who said he fired another three or four shots at Garcia.

But the prosecution summarized the case differently.

None of the injuries to Garcia or Lopez showed they were shot at close range, Urmanski said, despite Ochoa's claim that Garcia had lunged at him.

And while Ochoa stated that Garcia and Lopez were facing him when he shot, Urmanski said some of the bullet wounds show they were shot from the side and back.

Ochoa had previously been at Garcia's house that night, Urmanski pointed out, and returned with a gun, knowing full well they were using cocaine and drinking. Ochoa left his phone at home on airplane mode, which Urmanski speculated might have been because he didn't want to be tracked.

Ochoa took a four-hour concealed carry class just over a month before he shot and killed Garcia and Lopez, Urmanski said.

He had several opportunities to leave the house that night before events turned violent, Urmanski said, and after he shot Garcia and Lopez, he left without checking on them.

"He had so many other options," Urmanski said. "Instead he took the ultimate action."

Ochoa testified he didn't want to shoot either man. After leaving the house, he drove to the Sheboygan Police Department to tell them what happened.

"I couldn't hardly breathe," he said, describing the drive to the police station. Ochoa said he was scared, sad and confused, and he didn't know why Garcia and Lopez were so angry with him.

Ochoa was so distraught he got off the freeway to take side streets to the police department. During the drive, he threw his holster out the window, though he said he didn't know why.

'You can't know a man's story.'

Attorney Corey Mehlos, representing Ochoa, said he acted in self-defense in an unpredictable situation. He went straight to the police and even told them about how he threw his holster out the window, Mehlos said.

Mehlos took more than two hours for his closing statement, during which he said Ochoa had a good relationship with his cousin, Garcia, for 20 years. He said Ochoa didn't hesitate to answer questions during cross-examination because he was telling the truth.

Mehlos described Ochoa as a family man and said he had been happy the night of the shooting because his sister was visiting and their children were playing together. He was sober and had no reason to plan to shoot his cousin or his friend. Ochoa had even frequently driven Garcia's daughter to school.

"You can't know a man's story unless you watch, learn everything," Mehlos said.

The concealed carry class Ochoa attended taught him he should try to defuse the situation first, Mehlos said, and Ochoa didn't shoot the men in the head, which would have signaled a clear intent to kill.

Mehlos attributed the angles of the bullet wounds to the movements of Garcia, Lopez and Ochoa. The victims could have turned before Ochoa could stop shooting, he said, and Garcia was angled while he lunged at Ochoa.

While Ochoa was the only one in the room during the shooting who is still alive, the criminal complaint includes accounts from Garcia's son and the son's uncle, who both were in the house.

The uncle told police he thought Garcia owed Ochoa $200, and that they hadn't spoken in a month or two because of an argument over money.

Ochoa's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 14. He faces up to 80 years in prison and 40 years of extended supervision.

Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana

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