A 22-year-old woman pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for her role in a fatal car-to-car shooting of a 19-year-old man in Irvine two years ago.
Hailey Angelique Rangel of Lake Elsinore pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Co-defendant Jayden Browndorf, 23, of Irvine, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was also sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Nov. 21.
Co-defendant Noah Farmer, 24, of Tustin, is scheduled for trial Feb. 20. He is charged with murder and conspiracy with a special circumstances allegation of lying in wait with sentencing enhancements for the discharge of a gun causing death and the personal use of a gun.
Farmer faces at least life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted at trial but is also eligible for the death penalty.
The three were accused of killing Nicholas Alistair Neaimi-Pour just before 12:40 p.m. Aug. 3, 2023, at Athel Avenue and Sego Street.
Farmer allegedly armed himself before Browndorf and Rangel drove two vehicles to a predetermined area with Farmer in one of the cars, the criminal complaint alleges.
“Browndorf lured the victim to a predetermined location under the false pretense of meeting with her alone,” the complaint alleges. “Rangel drove Farmer to a location staged a short distance away where the victim could not see them.”
The complaint further alleges that Browndorf “drove to a predetermined location to meet with the victim and parked on the wrong side of the street.”
The complaint also alleges that “Rangel drove Farmer, who was armed, to that predetermined location to commit the crime once they were informed the victim was inside Browndorf’s vehicle.”
Neaimi-Pour got into the passenger seat of a black Mercedes-Benz that pulled along the east curb of Athel Avenue just before a Honda Civic pulled alongside the Mercedes-Benz, Irvine police said. Farmer got out of the Honda and opened fire on the victim, police alleged.
Neaimi-Pour got out of the Mercedes and collapsed as a resident tried to help him before first responders arrived, police said.
Irvine Police Department detectives identified Rangel as the driver of the white Honda Civic the two other suspects were in before the shooting, according to Sgt. Karie Davies, the Irvine Police Department’s public information officer.
Police recovered both vehicles involved in the shooting, authorities said.
Farmer pleaded guilty to attempted robbery Sept. 29, 2021, and was sentenced to two years in prison, according to court records. As part of the plea deal, a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a firearm was dismissed in the Nov. 24, 2020, attempted robbery, according to court records.
Farmer also has a pending case of assault and battery, both misdemeanors, on June 14, 2021, according to court records. He was also charged with a felony count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury on Feb. 9, 2021, according to court records.
Brownsdorf’s attorney in 2023 said in court papers seeking bail that she “arranged with Nick to meet him near her house in Irvine in her father’s Mercedes so that her boyfriend Noah could rob Nicholas of fentanyl tablets due to Nick’s drug debt to Noah.”
Brownsdorf said the point was to frighten the victim so Farmer could “get his stuff,” her attorney said.
Brownsdorf told investigators she did not plan to kill the victim or was aware her boyfriend intended to do it, her attorney said.