By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A state district court judge on Monday sentenced Clarissa Guerra to 70 years in prison after a jury found her guilty of the 2021 murder of Del Rioan Sandra De La Cruz.
The same jurors that had earlier found Guerra guilty of murder and felony evidence tampering in the March 7, 2021, shooting death of De La Cruz deliberated just over an hour before returning to open court to announce their recommendations on her sentence.
Before the jury began its deliberations on punishment, District Attorney Suzanne West called several witnesses to testify about some of Guerra’s previous run-ins with the law.
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Orlando De Luna testified he had stopped the vehicle in which Guerra was traveling on Aug. 29, 2020 on U.S. Highway 90 in Uvalde County.
De Luna testified he had found meth pipes and .14 grams of meth in vehicle.
Del Rio attorney Michael J. Bagley, who represented Guerra, asked the trooper if he knew the status of the case against Guerra or if she had ever been convicted of the charge. The trooper replied he did not.
West also called Del Rio Police Department Senior Officer Nadine Terrazas, who testified about an incident she was called to investigate on April 19, 2019, when one of Guerra’s sons, who was a toddler at the time, was found wandering alone in the street.
Terrazas said the one-year-old had been left with Guerra’s father, and under cross-examination by Bagley, said no criminal charges had ever been filed against Guerra as a result of the incident, but the case was referred to Child Protective Services.
West finally called CPS case worker Letty Ramos, who said CPS “was already involved with that family” when her office received the alert from the DRPD about the toddler left to wander alone.
Ramos testified that following a CPS investigation from January to April 2019, two of Guerra’s children were removed from her care and noted those children were in the process of being adopted or had already been adopted into other families.
Following the presentation of evidence in the punishment phase, Cadena told the jury it could consider a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison on the murder charge and a term of two to 10 years on the tampering charge.
West and Bagley were then allowed to address the jury.
West asked the jury to sentence Guerra to 55 years on the murder charge and 10 years on the tampering charge.
Bagley asked that the jury hand down “a reasonable punishment, consistent with justice and the principles of justice.”
The jury returned with a sentence of 70 years in prison on the murder charge and 10 years on the tampering charge.
Immediately after the recommended sentences were announced, Cadena ordered Guerra to face the bench along with her attorney and said he would follow the jury’s recommendations on punishment. Cadena ordered that the sentences be served concurrently and said Guerra would receive credit for the time she has already been incarcerated.
After Cadena handed down the sentence, West told the court De La Cruz’s sister, Carmen De La Cruz, wished to make a statement.
Guerra with her attorney near the front of the courtroom and faced the podium where Carmen De La Cruz stood. Her brother, Jesus De La Cruz, stood with her, and Michelle Salinas, an investigator with the district attorney’s office, and Debbie Garcia, the district attorney’s office victim’s assistance coordinator, also stood near the podium. Several sheriff’s office bailiffs stood in a loose semi-circle in front of the podium.
Carmen De La Cruz first turned and thanked Val Verde Sheriff’s Office Lt. Gina Garcia, the lead investigator in the case, and the members of her staff, as well as West and her team and the other law enforcement officers and agencies who had assisted with the case.
De La Cruz’s voice rang with anger and anguish as she detailed the trauma her family has suffered as a result of her sister’s murder.
Guerra never moved as she stared at De La Cruz, no emotion visible on her face.
“I’m dead inside, but I’m still breathing because God has a purpose for me,” De La Cruz told Guerra.
She said she and her mother and other family members are sharing in the raising of her sister’s children and told Guerra, “Look at you; you’re all by yourself . . . I know it hasn’t sunk in yet, but it will.”
Toward the end of her statement, De La Cruz seemed to grow angrier, and, in a raised voice, she told Guerra, “You’re nothing! You’ll never be anything!” When she stepped out from behind the podium and took a step toward Guerra, the deputies in front of the podium closed around her, gently preventing her from moving forward.
When De La Cruz finished, Cadena ordered Guerra remanded to the custody of the sheriff’s office, and deputies handcuffed her, attached the handcuffs to a chain around her waist and led her from the courtroom.
De La Cruz sobbed as Guerra was led away, and Cadena told those left in the courtroom, “The case is over. Justice has been served. Leave it all here. Leave your pain here, leave your sadness, leave your anger. Leave it with me. Leave it here.”
After the courtroom cleared, the 830 Times asked West for a statement, and she said, “I want to thank the sheriff’s office for their well-executed investigation of this case. I also want to thank the assisting agencies – the Texas Rangers, the Texas Department of Public Safety crime labs, Border Patrol intelligence – who added invaluable information to our cases. I would also like to thank the members of my staff who worked with me on these cases.
“The state appreciates the jury’s thoughtful deliberations, and while Sandra De La Cruz is gone, I pray that her family, including her children, can find some measure of peace,” West added.
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