A Costa Mesa woman has entered a guilty plea as being an accessory after the fact in the slaying of 6-year-old Aiden Leos. Wynne Lee, 26, was also convicted on a misdemeanor firearm charge. In the 2024 ruling, Lee received a combined four years for her involvement in the freeway shooting that occurred in May 2021, as reported by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Lee's sentence is being served at home due to a pre-existing state law. Since she's been under house arrest with GPS monitoring since June 2021, the court has credited her with time served. This application of AB 109, which permits defendants to accumulate actual and good behavior credits while on home confinement before the trial, means that Lee won't spend time behind bars – an outcome that has stirred public and official outrage.
Her former live-in boyfriend, Marcus Eriz, was handed a more severe sentence after being convicted of the murder of the 6-year-old boy. He was in the passenger seat when he fired the fatal shot from a handgun through an open window of Lee's Volkswagen. According to the Orange County DA's announcement, Eriz received a sentence of 40 years to life.
District Attorney Todd Spitzer condemned the couple's actions and what he perceived as a lenient outcome facilitated by the state's judicial system. "A six-year-old little boy is dead and instead of coming forward while the rest of Southern California was desperately searching for his killer, she helped the murderer hide critical evidence and then continued to live her life like nothing ever happened. Her behavior is despicable and I, along with our entire Orange County community, am outraged," he said. Spitzer's indignation reflects a broader frustration with legislative measures that are seen to favor defendants over the interests of victims and public safety.
The heartbreaking events unfolded on the morning of May 21st, 2021 when Aiden Leos was on his way to kindergarten. After an altercation on the 55 Freeway involving Aiden's mother and the defendant's vehicle, a deadly shot was fired, claiming the young boy's life. The California Highway Patrol initiated a widespread manhunt that ensued for weeks until the arrest of Eriz and Lee in early June 2021, bringing a somber resolution to a case that had gripped the heart of the community.
