Defendant Convicted for 1st-Degree Murder of Girlfriend

DATE: April 3, 2018

CASE: Moses Valdez (Case #14F05956)

PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Thien Ho, Homicide Unit

Moses Valdez was convicted by a jury for the first-degree murder of Marissa Pineda De Almanza.  The jury also found true that Valdez used a gun in the commission of the murder.

On November 2, 2014, the victim’s boyfriend, Moses Valdez, shot the victim in the head and left her for dead in her Elk Grove apartment.  A short time later, Valdez returned to the victim’s apartment and found she had crawled out of bed and down the hallway towards the front door.  Valdez then strangled the victim with a belt and an electrical cord.  Valdez fled to Mexico, but was apprehended four months later.

Additional allegations that Valdez has two prior 1995 convictions for voluntary manslaughter, which subject him to three-strikes sentencing, will be determined at his sentencing hearing.

If those allegations are found true, Valdez faces a maximum sentence of 100 years to life in prison.  Sentencing is set for April 27, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. in Department 39 before the Honorable David Abbott.