A man who bludgeoned a friend to death with a hammer at a Silver Lake construction site where they were working was sentenced Monday to 16 years to life in prison.
Christian Valdez, 21, was convicted last month of second-degree murder for the May 22, 2014, killing of Louis Sanchez, 20, of Los Angeles.
According to prosecutors, Valdez and Sanchez were working together at an apartment complex construction site in the 4200 block of Burns Avenue. One day last May, Valdez showed up to work drunk and was ordered to go home, so he borrowed Sanchez’s car but crashed it into a parked vehicle, prosecutors said.
Sanchez wanted Valdez to pay for the damage to his car, but on May 22, Valdez returned to work and beat Sanchez with a sledgehammer and a framing hammer, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
— City News Service