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Before a 3rd District Court judge sentenced him to 16 years to life in prison for shooting a 7-year-old girl outside a Salt Lake City home, the teenager who killed Maria del Carmen Menchaca offered an apology to her family.
"I want to say sorry for what I did. I never even seen the little girl," Gabriel Alejandro Alvarez, 18, told the girl's family, who cried during the Thursday sentencing hearing.
"I want to take responsibility for what I did," Alvarez added. "I will accept my punishment."
The apology didn't ease the pain for the Menchaca family.
Gilberto Menchaca, Maria's father, shook his head in disbelief as Alvarez offered the apology. He said his daughter's death has changed his family.
"When I come home from work I want to see my daughter, but I never find her," he told Judge Deno Himonas. "My life has changed a lot. My daughter was my life. I hope this never happens to another family."
Alvarez was 16 when he shot and killed Maria as she played on a sidewalk outside her Glendale home on July 6, 2008.
Alvarez was riding in an SUV driven by Frank Puga Benavidez, 22, when Alvarez opened fire, according to charging documents. Police said the intended target of the shooting was the little girl's older cousin, Luis Menchaca.
Earlier that day, charges state, Benavidez had shouted death threats and codefendant Mae Goodman Johnson, 17, had shouted obscenities at Luis Menchaca and another minor at the home.
Following that verbal confrontation, Johnson -- who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in adult court -- provided a gun to Alvarez and the three drove back to the Menchacas' neighborhood.
Luis Menchaca was outside with Maria and another child when he spotted the vehicle with a gunman inside and told the children to run, charges state.
Alvarez fired at Luis Menchaca, hitting Maria instead.
The girl's death outraged the community and became a symbol of the need to stop gang violence in Utah. City and state task forces, neighborhood watch groups and other programs were formed with the goal of curbing gang activity.
Maria's family, meanwhile, have continued to quietly grieve for the girl outside of the spotlight cast on her high-profile death.
"Everything ended for us. My daughter was just starting her life," said Carmen Santos Menchaca. "It's very hard for us to see her little things -- her clothing, her toys."
She added that although every day is difficult, she and her husband keep going for the sake of their other children.
Prosecutor Blake Hills called the girl's murder a tragedy for the entire community.
"If this could happen to little Maria, perhaps no one is safe," Hills said, asking Himonas to impose the maximum sentence possible for Alvarez.
Hills told the judge that Alvarez and the others involved in the girl's killing have never been truthful about what happened that day. No one has provided a reason for why she was killed, he said. Police have called the shooting gang-related.
Alvarez's defense attorney, James Valdez, said his client's actions were the result of being under the influence of alcohol and peer pressure. He said the episode should serve as a lesson of the dangerous reach of gang life.
"Keep your kids away from alcohol and idiots," Valdez said, after telling the court Alvarez is remorseful for his role in Maria's death.
Benavidez and Alvarez were both initially charged with aggravated murder, which carries the potential for the death penalty. Alvarez was ineligible for execution because he was younger than 18 at the time of the crime, but a weapons enhancement will add time to his prison sentence.
Valdez said Alvarez's life will be "riddled with threats on his life" in prison and he likely would be safer on death row -- an option the teen would have preferred because of his anguish over killing Maria.
"He feels he should not be alive," Valdez said.
Benavidez, who has been considering taking a plea deal in the case, will appear next in court Sept. 25.
A sentencing date for Johnson has not yet been set.
