A 21-year-old man convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the torture and retribution killing of a fellow Daly City gang member was sentenced yesterday to spend the next 11 years in prison, the stiffest punishment available to the judge.
Orlando Cuadra was a month shy of his 18th birthday when he and five other Daly City Locos stabbed and beat to death William Tejada, 17, in April 1999 for coughing up information about a drive-by shooting to San Francisco police that resulted in another gang member's arrest.
During Cuadra's 21-day trial in Redwood City this fall, a coroner testified that Tejada had more than 175 separate injuries to his body and almost 70 stab wounds to his head alone. His mutilated body was found in the morning by a jogger behind M. Pauline Brown Elementary School in Daly City.
Prosecutors tried to win a first-degree murder conviction against Cuadra, arguing that he was as an active participant who stabbed, kicked and held down a helpless Tejada. But the jury dismissed the first-degree murder charge, which was accompanied by a special torture allegation that could have landed Cuadra a lifetime jail sentence.
On Monday, Judge Dale Hahn imposed the maximum sentence allowable under the manslaughter conviction. Cuadra was eligible for anything from probation to the 11 years in prison he received.
Hahn dismissed defense attorney Peter Goldscheider's arguments for leniency, saying that the retaliatory
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.