FRESNO, Calif. — Buttons with the picture of Maria Elias filled a California courtroom Tuesday as family members packed in to remember her.
“She died at the hands of someone she loved,” prosecutor Kaitlin Drake read aloud from a letter written by Elias’ daughter, Sylvia.
As Sylvia sat with her family members, they all wore white in the Fresno County courtroom.
Just feet away, family member Juan Mata was sitting in a red jumpsuit.
“The actions towards my family and me are unforgivable. May 18, 2020, was the day she died, a day that forever changed us,” Sylvia expressed in her correspondence.
Prosecutors say Mata turned on his mother and killed her. The woman’s home was the site of a brutal scene.
Investigators say a blade was still inside her, and a power cord was wrapped around her neck when they arrived.
“I believe no one should die the way she did,” Sylvia wrote.
Mata denied the murder charge against him for nearly five years.
He first pleaded not guilty and then later not guilty by reason of insanity.
But after a mental health evaluation, his case went to trial in February.
Two days in, he pleaded no contest, agreeing not to fight the charge any longer.
“Mr. Mata, the court sentenced you to a term of 15 years to life for the murder of your mother,” Judge Brian Alvarez declared, ultimately extending the sentence by an additional six years, leading to a total of 21 years to life for Mata.
It was part of an agreement with prosecutors.
“I wish for him to spend the rest of his days in prison plagued by the memory of his actions against the one person who genuinely loved him,” Sylvia penned.
“After today, we will erase the idea of you ever being in our lives.”
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