Rialto man will get 26 years to life for stabbing 2 partygoers, 1 fatally, in river backside in Riverside

RIVERSIDE — A 24-year-old man who stabbed two partygoers, one fatally, throughout an unprovoked assault within the Santa Ana River backside was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in state jail.

A Riverside jury in February convicted Raul Sanchez of Rialto of second-degree homicide and a sentence-enhancing weapon allegation for the slaying of 19-year-old Raul Saldana. Jurors additionally convicted Sanchez of tried homicide and assault leading to nice bodily damage for attacking 18-year-old Alejandro Saucedo on the identical time in 2021.

During a sentencing listening to on the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni imposed the phrases required by legislation.

According to a trial temporary filed by the District Attorney’s Office, the defendant and victims, each Riverside residents, have been within the river backside for an off-road automobile party beneath a Pomona (60) Freeway overpass in Riverside, with a number of hundred folks gathered, a few of them on all-terrain automobiles and filth bikes, within the predawn hours of Feb. 28, 2021.

During the occasion, a younger man turned embroiled in an argument with Sanchez’s girlfriend,  prompting her to name on the defendant, who challenged the boy to a fistfight, which he declined, prosecutors mentioned.

Sanchez’s buddy, recognized solely as “Tony,” tried to bully {the teenager} into combating the defendant, culminating in an intervention by Saucedo.

The temporary mentioned that originally Sanchez and Saucedo tussled, whereas Tony centered on Saldana as he mounted his filth bike and tried to depart the placement. Tony tried to push the sufferer off his bike however Saldana pushed again, at which level Sanchez attacked him.

The defendant pulled a knife and stabbed Saldana 5 instances. The defendant then turned his consideration again to Saucedo, stabbing him a number of instances, primarily within the arm, in response to the temporary.

Sanchez then assisted Tony in stealing Saldana’s filth bike, pushing it to an unknown spot alongside the river backside, in response to the prosecution.

Multiple folks went to Saldana’s help, together with the wounded Saucedo, and so they loaded him right into a Jeep, whose driver transported each victims to Riverside Community Hospital. Saldana died within the emergency room inside an hour. Saucedo underwent surgical procedure and in the end recovered from his wounds, courtroom papers mentioned.

Riverside police have been unable to determine the assailant till a relative of Saldana posted a social media message the following day providing a reward for the return of the sufferer’s filth bike. Several folks contacted the person, saying they have been within the river backside when the assault occurred, resulting in the identification of Sanchez because the perpetrator, prosecutors mentioned.

The defendant was taken into custody with out incident on March 25, 2021, in Rialto.

“Sanchez said he had heard (Saldana) was a boxer and had heavy arms, so he believed he was justified in stabbing him,” the temporary mentioned. Sanchez proceeded to vary his assertion, telling detectives “alcohol made him stab the sufferer” and when he “will get mad, he blacks out,” incapable of controlling himself, in response to the narrative.

The defendant’s buddy, Tony, was by no means been positively recognized.

Sanchez had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.