A San Fernando Valley man convicted of the stabbing deaths of two men at house parties in Pacoima and South Los Angeles within just over a month was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jurors found Jesse Alexander Cardoza, 21, of Arleta, guilty in January of first-degree murder for the Oct. 29, 2016, killing of Victor Garcia, 22, and second-degree murder for the Sept. 24, 2016, slaying of Martin Kennedy, 18, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The jury also found true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with an allegation that Cardoza personally used a knife.
Cardoza stabbed Garcia in the neck in an unprovoked attack as the victim tried to help people disperse and to diffuse tensions among other party-goers as a house party in Pacoima was closing down, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Just over a month earlier, Cardoza was among a group of people who attacked Kennedy after a house party in South Los Angeles, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Cardoza stabbed Kennedy on the back of the head and in the back, killing him, prosecutors said.
Two other men charged in that attack pleaded no contest last October to one count of assault with a deadly weapon. Brandon Corona, 20, of North Hills, was sentenced to six years in state prison, and Angel Andres Quezada, 20, of Los Angeles, was ordered to serve eight years in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.