SANTA CRUZ – A drive-by capturing case from 2018 got here to an in depth Monday morning.
Santa Cruz County Superior Choose Paul Burdick sentenced Alexis Balderas, 23, to fifteen years in jail for voluntary manslaughter. Balderas additionally confronted a felony enhancement for gang-related violence.
Balderas already has served 1,683 days of his sentence, 219 of which have been gifted to him as behavioral concessions. He nonetheless has roughly 3,800 days left to serve.
Balderas shot and killed 26-year-old Ivan Villalobos on April 8, 2018. Villalobos was sitting on the steps of the Emerald Bay Flats leasing workplace on Soquel Drive when the drive-by occurred. The capturing was one in every of at the very least six situations of gun violence alongside Soquel Drive that 12 months.
On the time of the capturing, legislation enforcement decided that Villalobos was not focused and was as an alternative chosen at random.
Authorities arrested Balderas shortly after the capturing. Additionally they arrested Isaac Fuentes, then 15 years outdated, as an alleged co-conspirator. Fuentes confronted costs in juvenile court docket.
Balderas was additionally ordered to pay $400 in court docket charges and an extra $7,713.13 in damages. That cash will probably be put aside for the California Sufferer Compensation Board as restitution. Restitution can pay for Villalobos’ funeral, the relocation of members of the family, and emotional counseling.
A plea deal resulted in costs towards Balderas being lowered from homicide to voluntary manslaughter after he elected to plead responsible in February.
On Monday, Villalobos’ father, Martin, expressed frustration over the sentencing. Prior plea offers resulted in a shorter sentence, which he mentioned displeased him.
Villalobos is survived by a now 8-year-old daughter.