BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Two men convicted of murder in the shooting death of a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation counselor who was charging his electric vehicle were sentenced Wednesday to life terms in prison at an emotional hearing in which family of the counselor lambasted the defendants.
Richard Alcala, brother of victim Benny Alcala, called Robert Roberts and Sebastian Parra cowards who have done nothing positive with their lives, and whom no one will miss.
His brother, in contrast, was a hard worker who had earned a life filled with love and happiness, Richard Alcala said. The defendants snatched that away.
“I ask you, judge, that you show Roberts and Parra the same mercy that they showed to my brother,” Richard Alcala said. He said they deserve to “rot in cells for the rest of their lives.”
Roberts, 31, and Parra, 24, sat quietly as Richard Alcala and others spoke of their loss and asked the court for the maximum punishment.