Almaraz gets life sentence
Jury convicted area man of murder in June
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Sunday, September 28, 2008 12:15 AM PDT
Payette—Hector Brito Almaraz will spend at least the next 40 years in prison after a Payette County judge handed down a sentence Friday afternoon in Payette.
Almaraz, 28, was found guilty of murder in the first degree in June at the Payette County Courthouse in the 2006 murder of Gabriel Flores, 28, at the Club 7 bar in Fruitland. Almaraz’s trial lasted seven weeks.
Judge Gregory Culet handed down a sentence of life in prison with the first 40 years fixed.
Before Almaraz was sentenced, Judge Gregory Culet heard testimony from some of Flores’ family members, many of whom said they believed Almaraz should spend the rest of his life in prison.
“Nobody deserves to die like that,” Stephanie Flores, Gabriel Flores’ wife, said. “Shot in the back.”
Stephanie Flores said Gabriel Flores did not want his children to grow up without both parents, since his mother died when he was a teenager. Deputy Payette County Prosecuting Attorney Anne-Marie Kelso asked Stephanie Flores what she would like to say to Almaraz. Flores replied that she wanted Almaraz to know that he did not just impact her and her children, but also affected his own family and children.
“Before, I was a really big believer in rehabilitation,” she said. “I’m going to school to be a social worker, and that’s kind of a big thing. But now I believe there are some people that just can’t be rehabilitated. I don’t believe Hector can be rehabilitated.”
However, Dr. Richard Cervantes, a California-based psychologist, said at the sentencing he believed that Almaraz could be rehabilitated through a 12-step program, counseling and anger management. Cervantes said Almaraz had a tumultuous past, which he called “risk factors” in Almaraz’s development.
Cervantes said he interviewed Almaraz and his family members and reviewed school and criminal records to learn more about Almaraz’s history. Cervantes said Almaraz had eight different living arrangements from birth to age 3 and 19 from ages 9 to 13.
The period in between, Cervantes said, Almaraz remembered fondly as the time he spent with his grandfather and grandmother before she died. Cervantes called this family “traditional,” with church and family time as a staple of the upbringing.
“Children need stability in their lives,” Cervantes said. At 13, Almaraz was back with his mother.
“ ‘She let me party with her,’ ” Cervantes said Almaraz told him. “ ‘My mother would drink a lot. She would drink all day. But not before noon. That was her only rule.’ ”
Cervantes called Almaraz’s time after living with his grandparents a “free-for-all.”
Cevantes said Almaraz, while he loved his mother, saw her as more of a friend than a parent.
He also said he believed Almaraz would respond well to a highly-structured environment.
“Is the court just going to say, ‘no more. You can never be a positive person?’ ” defense attorney Van Bishop asked.
Bishop said there are many government-funded programs that support the idea that people can be rehabilitated.
Payette County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Lee said Almaraz had opportunities to go to anger management and drug and alcohol programs in the past but chose not to utilize them.
“We cannot afford to risk the safety of the community on the possibility he might choose to change,” Lee said.
Payette County Deputy Sheriff Randy Cosner said Almaraz had created two different “shanks,” a sharp object used to injure people, since he has been incarcerated at the Payette County Jail.
One was made from the rings of a binder, used to secure his defense paperwork, with the other fashioned from a toothbrush. He also spoke of a time when Almaraz kept a cleaning cart loaned to him to clean his cell.
Cosner said Almaraz said since the cart was left in his cell it was now his property. When Cosner informed him he was going to bring in a group of officers to take it back, he said Almaraz replied, “Bring it on.”
He then sharpened a toilet brush and stabbed at a law enforcement officer sent in with four others to subdue him after repeated requests to return the cart. The shank, which had a T-shirt for a handle, hit the officer’s shield and was stabbed with such force that it dented the shield and went flying. Cosner also said Almaraz was involved in two fights with fellow inmates, but Bishop said those attacks could have been provoked previously.
Culet said Almaraz was an example to show how not to raise a child.
“It appears to me you are in danger of committing this crime again,” he said.
Culet said he would hear defense motions for a new trial after all the transcripts in the case have been compiled. Post-trial motions are slated for 9 a.m. Feb. 4.
Looking for more local news? Go online to www.argusobserver.com
Wow wrote on Oct 16, 2008 7:26 PM: