“This man didn’t just kill two of my kids, he also took my life,” a grieving mother told a judge through an interpreter at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.
“I have to live a life while I’m dead,” she continued. “It’s hurting my whole family.”
Mario Cervantes-Angel, 29, was sentenced Tuesday to serve a total of 50 years to life in prison for fatally shooting 15-year-old Abril Izazaga and her brother, 16-year-old Jose Izazaga, outside their Midvale apartment July 6, 2016.
The teens’ mother, Maria Lopez, broke down sobbing multiple times during the sentencing, while other family members around her cried over their loss.
In addition to the mother, five of the teens’ siblings addressed the court.
They expressed their pain knowing that they’ll never get to see their two younger siblings grow up or achieve their dreams.
They also spoke about how hard the loss had been on their mother and how their family will never be the same as it was before.
Two of the brothers, Eric Izazaga and Kenny Lopez, called Cervantes-Angel a “monster” and said he deserves to die for what he did to the family.
But Cervantes-Angel’s defense attorneys told the judge he was “a good person” who “made a very fatal mistake.”
Before the deadly encounter, one of the victims, Jose Izazaga, had lived in Cervantes-Angel’s home. Defense attorney Nick Falcone said the boy had been kicked out of the home by Cervantes-Angel, and just before the encounter, Cervantes-Angel’s house had been robbed.
Cervantes-Angel, a Mexican national, has just one misdemeanor in his criminal history, Falcone said, and does not have a history of being violent. But text messages and other circumstances made he man and his family felt threatened, Falcone said, and he wanted to protect his family.
Cervantes-Angel and his family members went to the Izazagas’ apartment to try and recover some of the property taken from the house, Falcone said, and the emotional situation escalated.
“I’m very sorry for what I did,” Cervantes-Angel told the judge through an interpreter Tuesday. “My intention was never to hurt anyone. The situation got out of hand, and then people lost their lives.”
Falcone asked that Judge William Kendall consider allowing Cervantes-Angel serve the two terms of 25 years to life in prison, the sentence required by state law for a conviction of aggravated murder, concurrently.
But Kendall ultimately sided with the state and required that Cervantes-Angel serve the terms consecutively. As part of a plea agreement, state prosecutors did not seek the death penalty or the possibility of life without parole.
At the time of the fatal encounter, witnesses reported a physical fight involving Cervantes-Angel, the Izazagas and others.
Jose Izazaga pulled out a knife, and then Cervantes-Angel pulled out a gun. The unarmed 15-year-old girl was standing between the two when Cervantes-Angel shot her in the back.
He fired 13 shots at the siblings, hitting Jose Izazaga nine times, prosecutors said. Once the teens were lying on the ground, he also attempted to shoot them in the head execution-style, but was either out of ammunition or the gun malfunctioned.
“These were irreplaceable lives lost over replaceable things,” said Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Nathan Evershed, including clothes, an iPod and some other items. Early reports from police stated that the incident occurred because of a dispute over a T-shirt.
Since being incarcerated, Cervantes-Angel has felt a strong sense of remorse, to the point where he spent three months in a mental health unit coping with his guilt, Falcone said.
“Every day he sits in that cell, he has to think about what he did,” Falcone told the court.
Despite showing “sincere remorse,” Judge Kendall said, Cervantes-Angel’s “depraved and cruel” actions warranted the longer sentence. The man’s rehabilitative needs can be met by the Utah State Prison, he said.