Man gets life sentence for killing at Lin’s
The San Luis man convicted of murdering another man outside of Lin’s Grand Buffet restaurant nearly four years ago was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.
Yuma County Superior Court Judge Brandon Kinsey, who presided over the nearly three-week trial that ended last month, gave Modesto Cortes-Serillo the maximum punishment for fatally shooting 43-year-old Santiago Olivo-Diaz on the evening of April 13, 2014.
“That was the only option available to the judge based on the type of conviction,” said Yuma County Attorney Jon R. Smith.
Members from both the victim and Cortes-Serillo’s families were present in the courtroom to watch the sentencing, as they had throughout the trial. Some spoke on behalf of their loved ones.
Shortly after the sentencing, attorney Jerry Hernandez, of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, who represented CortesSerillo, told the judge he would appeal the decision.
It took jurors less than an hour to return their verdict last month to find Cortes-Serillo guilty of premeditated first-degree murder for killing his ex-wife’s new boyfriend and later fleeing to Mexico.
During the trial, prosecutor Karolyn Kaczorowski, of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office, portrayed Cortes-Serillo as abusive and controlling. She even referred to a testimony in her closing remarks about how he had threatened to shoot his ex-wife and anyone he saw her with.
Kaczorowski went on to say Cortes-Serrillo knew his ex-wife would be at the restaurant and he spent nearly half an hour while there planning the shooting and how he would escape. She added the shooting was not the result of some sudden quarrel or heat of passion.
In Cortes-Serillo’s defense, his lawyer had tried to convince jurors that his client became so angry at seeing his ex-wife with another man that emotion superseded reason, thus the shooting stemmed from a moment of passion.
According to Yuma police, on the evening of the shooting, Cortes-Serrillo, who was on a date with his girlfriend, saw Olivo-Di-
az with his ex-wife and became angry. It was two days before their divorce became final.
Cortes-Serrillo approached Olivo-Diaz, which led to a disturbance between the two men. After the disturbance became physical, Olivo-Diaz ran outside and was chased by Cortes-Serrillo.
Cortes-Serrillo then shot Olivo-Diaz multiple times, killing him. Police said Cortes-Serrillo then fled the scene in a black 1996 Toyota Camry that was later found abandoned in San Luis, Ariz.
Cortes-Serrillo was found in Mexico and extradited back to the country in January 2017 by U.S. Marshals.
Both of his children, Daisy Cortes and Modesto Jaime Cortes, were convicted of helping him evade arrest and flee the country following the shooting.
Daisy Cortes, who drove her father to Mexico, was sentenced to a year of supervised probation in September 2014. She had pleaded guilty to one count of attempted hindering prosecution in a plea agreement.
Modesto Jaime Cortes, who withheld information about his father’s whereabouts and gave him money, was found guilty of hindering prosecution in February 2015, following a three-day trial. He was also sentenced to a year of supervised probation.