Fresno County judge sentences man for killing teen who tried to defend his mother
Looking directly at convicted murder Hileberto Valtierra, Judge Alvin M. Harrell III said he sometimes has a hard time sentencing people to prison.
“But in this case,” he said. “It’s not hard at all.”
On Tuesday, Harrell sentenced Valtierra to 230 years in prison for gunning down his ex-girlfriend’s 16-year-old son, Angel Trejo, and shooting his brother Esteban Trejo, 20, in the back.
It was the 37-year-old Valtierra’s third strike. He was found guilty on Aug. 21 of second degree murder, attempted murder and three counts of assault with a firearm.
Detectives said the killing took place in the evening of Dec. 9, 2019 at an apartment complex in the western Fresno County city of San Joaquin.
Valtierra’s ex-girlfriend, Leticia Rodriguez-Alejo, had recently broken up with him and was moving out of an apartment with the help of her two sons and her brother. Tensions were already high when Valtierra showed up and began hurling insults and disrespecting Rodriguez-Alejo.
Angel Trejo confronted Valtierra and told him to stop. Valtierra refused. Esteban Trejo stepped in to help his brother and soon the shouting turned to fighting with Valtierra and Esteban wrestling on the ground.
After the scuffle ended, they both got up and Valtierra turned to his niece who handed him a black handgun, said Rodriguez-Alejo during the trial. Valtierra pointed it at Rodriguez-Alejo, her daughter, and Angel. She then heard the gun go off several times. Angel was hit three times, the bullet striking nearly every major organ. His body crumpled over and fell to the ground. Others tried to get away, including Esteban who was shot twice and survived.
During Valtierra’s sentencing, Crystal Garcia, Angel’s girlfriend and the mother of his child, remembers the night she got a call from family members saying something had happened to Angel.
With her 8-month-old daughter in her arms, she rushed to the apartment complex. What she saw scared her.
“All you see is lights and patrol cars and people around your partner’s body,” she said, clutching her prepared statement and fighting back tears. “But the faster you run towards them the more stuck you feel. And the closer you get is how much more you realize they are gone. “
Garcia said it pains her that her daughter will grow up without any memories of her father. The best she can do is take her to the cemetery to see where he is buried.
“She runs around and laughs and plays and it makes me happy, yet also heartbroken because that is all that she is left with, a stone with her father’s name across it.”
Valtierra spoke briefly before being cutoff by the judge. Harrell told him specifically to address the court, and not the family. But Valtierra claims he misunderstood.
The convicted killer looked at the family and offered his condolences while also professing his innocence. “Everyone knows I did not shoot Angel, I did not kill him,” Valtierra said. “I maintain my innocence, I did not kill him.”
Someone from the victim’s side of the family replied, “Then who killed him?”
Defense attorney Emily Takao, who tried to convince the jury that Valtierra acted in self-defense, asked the judge for leniency. Prosecutor Tim Galstan pushed for the maximum, saying the defendant’s actions have ripped apart two families: Valtierra’s and the victims’.
The judge agreed. “The court is convinced of your guilt, you are the person who murdered Angel, shot Esteban and shot at another individual, there is no doubt in my mind,” Harrell said. “The tragedy that you have put this family through and your own family through was completely unnecessary.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 5:40 PM.
