BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club who fatally punched a man at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View will go to prison for six years.
Logan Winterton, 40, of San Francisco, wanted to take responsibility for the punch that he’ll regret for the rest of his life, his attorney said in an interview.
Winterton admitted on March 25 to assault and involuntary manslaughter, down from the murder charge he originally faced.
Winterton was one of five Hells Angels arrested after a night of violence at a Chris Stapleton concert on June 18, 2022.
Winterton punched Juan Rangel Gonzalez, 41, of Bakersfield, after Gonzalez allegedly touched the shoulder of another Hells Angels member’s girlfriend.
Gonzalez fell to the ground and was taken off life support 11 days later, leaving behind a wife, two sons and three stepchildren.
Judge Brain Buckelew told lawyers in April 2023 that getting a murder conviction on a “one punch” case can be difficult.
“It will be critical to determine: Was the punch so hard that the skull fractured? Or was it the fall forward?” Buckelew said at the Palo Alto Courthouse.
Winterton hired a private investigator to track down two security guards and a concession worker who saw the punch.
All three witnesses said Winterton punched Gonzalez on the right side of his face, contradicting Detective Jason Roldan’s police report that said the punch was to the back of Gonzalez’s head.
“His head hit the pavement, and that’s what killed him, sad to say,” Winterton’s attorney Brian Getz said. “It wasn’t anything Winterton was aware of … When he learned the altercation at Shoreline resulted in the death of another human being, he felt awful about it. He conferred with his priest. He conferred with family … It was a terrible accident.”
Buckelew agreed to release Winterton on $500,000 bail in December 2023 and banned him from contacting other Hells Angels.
Buckelew also dismissed a charge that said Winterton was acting on behalf of a criminal gang.
Hells Angels members Raymond Cunanan, 45, of Pleasant Hill, and Dominic Guardado, 36, of San Francisco, were accused of threatening concertgoers who saw the punch.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chris Nemetz signed plea deals with them on March 25 to end their cases with credit for time served — 86 days for Cunanan, and one day for Guardado, court records show.
Nemetz didn’t respond to phone calls or emails this week to answer questions about the plea deals.
Buckelew ordered the Mountain View Police Department to return a long list of Hells Angels gear seized from Guardado — jackets, stickers, hats, patches, rings, belt buckles, medallions, photo albums and more.
As part of the plea deal, Winterton can contact the Hells Angels again. He will be sentenced to prison on Aug. 5.
Winterton is a military veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and now works as a property manager, Getz said.
“He’s not a perfect angel, but he’s an upstanding citizen who is respected and loved by many people,” Getz said.
Fifty minutes before Winterton punched Gonzalez, the group got into a fight with Nicolas Rudolfs, an off-duty Hollister police officer.
Rudolfs was allegedly drunk, wearing a different motorcycle club’s jacket and heckled the Hells Angels in line for the bathroom, defense attorney Jamyrson Pittori said.
Julio Moran, 44, of San Mateo, and David Wiesenhaven, 39, of San Francisco, admitted to assault in February 2023 and were sentenced to a year of house arrest, which they had already served.
Gonzalez’s family is suing Live Nation, the company that operates Shoreline, for allegedly allowing the Hells Angles to roam freely throughout the venue even after beating up Rudolfs. The case is scheduled for a trial on Aug. 24.