- Utah’s Court of Appeals upheld Sergio Briseno Medina’s murder conviction for killing Hope Gabaldon in February 2016.
- Medina argued ineffective counsel and that prosecutors should have been required to do more to get a key witness to the trial.
- Medina was sentenced in 2022 to consecutive prison terms for murder and obstructing justice.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who was found guilty of killing 21-year-old Hope Gabaldon in West Valley City will continue his prison sentence after Utah’s Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction on Thursday.
Sergio Briseno Medina was convicted in March 2022 of murder. Charges said he stabbed Gabaldon, of Herriman, 20 times before leaving her on the side of the road to die. She was found on 4000 West near 3150 South and later died at the hospital.
Medina argued in his appeal that the district court should not have ruled a “key witness” was unavailable at trial — a man his attorney pinned the killing on in his closing arguments. He claimed prosecutors should have been required to try harder to bring him to the trial. He also argued that his attorney at his jury trial was not effective…