Man who ran over deacon sentenced to 30 years
Daniel Sandoval faced three dozen charges
A 20-year-old was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for a series of crimes, including running over and killing a local deacon while stealing his van.
In an agreement with the District Attorney’s Office, Daniel Sandoval pleaded guilty to three dozen charges and faced up to 30 years. Citing the “number of incidents, the breadth, the amount of damage done,” state District Judge Charles Brown imposed the maximum sentence.
“I can find no good reason to go less than that amount,” he said, calling the crimes senseless and tragic.
Sandoval was one of five accused in the death of Hector Aguirre, a deacon and carpenter who was hit in September 2016 while trying to stop the group from stealing his van from a northwest Albuquerque driveway.
Sandoval’s attorney John McCall has said it is unclear what role his client played in Aguirre’s death because the suspects offered different accounts. Sandoval also admitted involvement in multiple burglaries, including one in which a family’s pet dog was killed.
McCall said his client should be released after 15 years so he could begin earning money to pay restitution to the victims in the case.
Attorneys said Sandoval had been a promising and nationally ranked high school wrestler before he fell in with the wrong crowd, and began a life of crime and drug use.
“He had a choice: accept this scholarship for wrestling or go down this path,” said prosecutor Les Romaine.
Sandoval’s mother, who works as a nurse, told the judge her son was raised in the church, in a drug-free home, and that his siblings had gone on to get college degrees. She apologized to the victims of his crimes and said she was embarrassed by her son’s behavior and blamed herself.
“I raised him better, I know he knows better. I pray every night for all of those families, your honor,” she said. “If I could pay them back I would get 10 jobs and pay them back for what they had to go through.”
Aguirre’s wife said the loss impacted her both emotionally and financially, but thanks to her faith and the support of her three children, she is finding the strength to move forward.
“Every day I ask God to change the hearts of these people that have harmed our family,” she said through a translator. “So that they don’t continue harming others as they’ve harmed us.”