A man convicted of murdering his brother’s long-time girlfriend — whose body was found in a field in Pomona — was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in state prison.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke imposed the term on Tomas Sarinana, who was found guilty in June of first-degree murder for the September 2015 killing of Sally Mityas.
The 33-year-old woman — who had three young children with Sarinana’s brother — was reported missing Sept. 4, 2015, from her home on Ontario, and her decomposed body was located 11 days later in a vacant field that was frequented by transients.
Prosecutors contended that the defendant killed the woman during a fight over money involving a down-payment he provided for the home, which was shared by Sarinana and his two brothers, Mityas and the three children.
Sarinana, now 48, acted as his own attorney during his murder trial, telling jurors in his closing argument that “the elements of murder haven’t been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The defendant urged jurors to acquit him of the murder charge, arguing that the woman had not been strangled as the prosecution contended.
Deputy District Attorney Phil Stirling countered that “the evidence in this case is overwhelming.”
The prosecutor told jurors that Mityas wouldn’t take off and leave her three children and her boyfriend without warning for a weekend trip to Santa Barbara as Sarinana had claimed. Stirling said that the woman scratched Sarinana’s face and that his DNA was found in clippings from her fingernails.
Sarinana was returned to Los Angeles County from Mexico after being arrested there in March 2016.
One of the victim’s cousins told the judge, “Her death leaves an emptiness that cannot be put in words … This has fractured our family in ways that will never heal.”