A man convicted of gunning down his ex-girlfriend’s fiancé in North Park was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
That’s not all – San Diego Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein added 25 years to life to Jesse Milton Alvarez‘s term in the killing of Cathedral Catholic High School teacher Mario Fierro, 37.
Alvarez, 34, was found guilty by a San Diego jury last March of first-degree murder, plus a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, for shooting Fierro six times outside his Kansas Street home on the morning of Feb. 1, 2021.
Prosecutors said Alvarez killed Fierro after discovering the victim had become engaged to Amy Gembara, another Cathedral Catholic teacher who Alvarez had dated for several years. Defense attorneys argued the shooting was committed in self-defense after Fierro attacked Alvarez.
The sentencing hearing came nearly a year after jurors convicted Alvarez and almost four years to the day after Fierro’s death.
The case has seen numerous delays, some of which related to the defense team’s work on a motion for a new trial, as well as several medical-related issues. Alvarez sustained a head injury while in custody Tuesday, the court was told, but the sentencing proceeded as planned.
He spent all of Wednesday’s hearing slumped over in a wheelchair with his head on the defense table and did not speak, move or react throughout.
Goldstein was unmoved.
“It’s the court’s opinion that everything we’ve watched in court since the verdict has been theatrics,” the judge said.
Prior to imposing the life sentence, he referred to Alvarez as “a cold-hearted killer” who “lacks empathy” and said it was “obvious to all of us that he sought out Mr. Fierro as a way of inflicting pain on Ms. Gembara.”
Deputy District Attorney Ramona McCarthy called Alvarez “a selfish, jealous and possessive, cowardly man” who “refused to let Ms. Gembara be happy, so he wanted to rob her of this incredible human being that made her happiest.”
Alvarez’s defense team, however, revived the topic of autism in arguing that their client should receive a new trial.
Attorney Peter Blair said it was proper for jurors to hear evidence that Alvarez’s autism spectrum disorder prevented him from reading social cues and realizing how his behavior disturbed Gembara, but they also should have been allowed to consider evidence that autism caused him to unreasonably perceive that Fierro was a threat.
Blair also argued that a life without parole sentence would be unconstitutional and cruel and unusual punishment for someone like Alvarez, who “suffers so severely from autism spectrum disorder.”
Gembara did not attend court in person, but made a statement remotely in which she praised her “loyal, genuine, hilarious” fiancé.
“That murderer tried to take Mario’s light by taking his life. But the thing about light is once you experience it, you are changed by it forever,” she said. “He took Mario’s life, but he cannot ever erase Mario’s memories and positive impact.”
The prosecution’s case centered on Alvarez’s admitted fixation with Gembara, one that lasted well beyond their 2019 breakup, as well as a digital trail of evidence that suggested Alvarez spent weeks researching ways to kill Fierro.
At trial, Alvarez’s attorneys argued he suffered from autism that had long gone undiagnosed, which played a role in his obsession over Gembara and his inability to understand that his behavior was neither welcomed nor appropriate.
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