Prison Term Imposed for Revenge Murder

One of two men who killed a Pacoima man while seeking revenge for an insult to one of their mothers was sentenced in San Fernando Superior Court Monday to 17 years to life in prison.

Carlos Jimenez, 20, of Pacoima, was convicted of second-degree murder in April for the fatal shooting of Ricardo Sanchez, 34, in January, 1983. Jimenez, accompanied by 18-year-old Donald Maestas of Arleta, walked into Sanchez’s home and shot the man once in the chest as Sanchez’s pregnant wife and three young daughters watched.

In a taped confession to police, Jimenez said he and Maestas had gone to the house to seek revenge after Maestas’ mother had been slapped by a man attending a party at Sanchez’s home the month before.

Jimenez said he and Maestas asked Sanchez if the man who hit Maestas’ mother was at home. Jimenez said that, when Sanchez told them he did not know the man, he fired the gun to scare Sanchez.

Superior Court Judge Edward I. Gorman delayed sentencing for Maestas, who also was convicted of second-degree murder, until Maestas completes a 90-day California Youth Authority evaluation. Maestas faces a maximum term of 15 years to life in prison when he appears for sentencing Aug. 5.

Jimenez was ordered to spend the first five years of his sentence in Youth Authority facilities.

In sentencing Jimenez, Gorman called the shooting “cold-blooded” and said he could find “no extenuating circumstances of any kind.”

“There is no excuse at all, none, for this youngster to have shot a gentleman who may or may not have been the right person,” he said. “I only hope, Mr. Jimenez, that you someday can live with what you did.”