A young man was sentenced Tuesday to 41 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a woman whom he mistakenly believed had been involved in a fight with his mother.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Norm Shapiro imposed the term on Jose Alberto Perez, 20, who was convicted last August of one count each of second- degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
The case stems from the March 18, 2015, shooting death of his ex- stepfather’s girlfriend, Yesenia DeLeon, 35, whom Perez mistook for someone who had previously been in an altercation with his mother, according to the prosecution.
The woman was shot once in the face after telling her two young children to run away.
“I just want to say that this is going to affect me until I die,” the victim’s mother, Maria Velez, said through a Spanish interpreter. “He did that because he did not have God in his heart … I miss my daughter so much and she was innocent … She was a good person.”
—City News Service