Two men were sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering an Iraq War veteran whose body was discovered in the trunk of his smoldering car in the concrete riverbed of the Los Angeles River in South Gate more than a decade ago.
“You both deserve every moment in prison that you can receive … If I could make it longer, I would,” Superior Court Judge Mark S. Arnold told Anthony Silvas, 38, and Juan Vallejo, 43, who were convicted of first-degree murder for the October 2006 killing of Jesse Aguilar.
The judge — who said he hoped that Aguilar was dead when the 24-year-old victim’s body was set on fire — cited a “plethora of evidence” in denying a request by defense attorneys to reduce the defendants’ convictions to second-degree murder.
A downtown Los Angeles jury deliberated less than three hours on March 29 before finding the two guilty of killing Aguilar, but acquitted them of a torture charge.
Aguilar had been struck in the head, wrapped in plastic, cloth and rope and had his feet bound together with wire, Deputy District Attorney Kenneth Von Helmolt said.
His body was found in a fetal position in the trunk of his blue Toyota Corolla, which was found smoldering on the concrete riverbed below the Long Beach (710) Freeway on the evening of Oct. 26, 2006.
The victim’s mother said she still believes her son was burned alive.
“I am a mother of a murdered son. I am his voice,” Nancy Aguilar told the judge, noting that she had “prayed for this day.”
She called her son’s killers “ruthless” and “monsters,” and said they “took a part of my life as well” and left Aguilar’s two daughters without a father.
“I am forever left with the question `Why? What was the motive?’ she told the judge.
The prosecutor told jurors that Silvas’ sister told police that she spoke to Aguilar — whom she said had been selling methamphetamine with her brother — the evening before he was found dead, and said the victim told her he was going to meet her brother that night. Phone records showed the victim unsuccessfully trying to call Silvas three times, Silvas calling the land line to Vallejo’s residence and Silvas then calling the victim — the last phone call he received, according to Von Helmolt.
A former brother-in-law of Silvas testified that Silvas told him shortly before the murder that he was extremely upset that Aguilar had visited Silvas’ girlfriend, according to the prosecutor.
Von Helmolt alleged that Silvas told his former brother-in-law that the “white fool got handled” and was “cracked,” and admitted to his then-girlfriend in 2007 that he had killed Aguilar, and said the victim was alive while being set on fire.
Defense attorneys had urged jurors to acquit Silvas and Vallejo of both charges, with Silvas’ attorney arguing that the victim’s body had been set on fire after he was already dead.
“The question is whether they proved a murder. The torture (charge) is absolutely absurd,” Silvas’ lawyer, Alan Kessler, told jurors.
Silvas’ attorney questioned the credibility of the account of his client’s ex-girlfriend, telling jurors that she had given different versions of what had happened. The lawyer argued that the body was dumped and set on fire after Aguilar was killed.
Vallejo’s attorney, Patrick Thomason, said there was no evidence that his client was a direct perpetrator or aided and abetted in the killing, calling it a “failure of proof” by the prosecution.
The defense lawyer said DNA evidence linking Vallejo to a cigarette butt found in the victim’s car was “degraded” and “only a partial profile.”
“I ask, `Can you trust the DNA evidence?”’ Thomason told jurors, noting that a criminalist could not say when the cigarette was left in the vehicle.
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