PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Caroline Park, Homicide Unit
The Honorable Eugene Balonon sentenced Mario Michael Mayorga to 76 years to life in prison. On February 13, 2019, a jury convicted Mayorga of the first-degree murder of Tina Morales. The jury also found true that Mayorga used a deadly weapon during the murder. Allegations that Mayorga suffered two prior strike convictions for assault with a firearm and assault with a deadly weapon were determined to be true at the sentencing hearing.
Mario Michael Mayorga and the victim were in a dating relationship. On November 24, 2016, Thanksgiving Day, the victim checked into a motel near Stockton Boulevard and Mack Road. The victim had Thanksgiving dinner with Mayorga and the two then walked to a friend’s house. Another friend drove the two back to the victim’s motel room at 1:30 a.m. At 11:30 a.m. that day, motel employees found the victim with multiple stab and puncture wounds.
