By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Ernesto Olguin has been sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to murder and evidence tampering in the shooting death of Del Rioan Sandra De La Cruz.
After 83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena, who is presiding over the ongoing murder trial of Clarissa Guerra, who has also been charged with murder and evidence tampering for De La Cruz’s death, dismissed the jurors for the weekend on Friday afternoon, he took up the matter of Olguin’s sentencing.
Olguin, wearing orange jail scrubs, with his hands shackled to a chain around his waist, stood in front of Cadena’s bench at the side of his attorney, Jackson Lindsey of San Antonio.
Olguin had earlier in the day pleaded guilty to murder and felony tampering with evidence in connection with De La Cruz’s death. He had also testified in the Guerra trial, telling the jury Guerra shot De La Cruz.
Cadena first gave Olguin an opportunity to speak, which he declined.
Lindsey and District Attorney Suzanne West also declined to speak.
Cadena announced the court would follow the plea agreement hammered out between Olguin, Lindsey and West.
The judge ordered Olguin to serve 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on the murder charge and 10 years in the TDCJ for the evidence tampering charge. Cadena ordered the two prison terms to run concurrently.
He said Olguin would be given credit for the time he has been incarcerated since the murder.
Cadena then asked Olguin and Lindsey to take a seat near the bench and gave members of the De La Cruz family the opportunity to speak to Olguin.
De La Cruz’s older brother, Jesus De La Cruz, and his wife, Lala De La Cruz, have been in the courtroom since the start of testimony. Both of them indicated to the district attorney they did not wish to speak.
That role fell to Carmen De La Cruz, Sandra De La Cruz’s sister.
Carmen De La Cruz walked to a podium at the center of the courtroom, carrying a sheaf of 8-by-10 color photographs.
“You put us through so much pain . . .You say you cared for my sister. You didn’t care about her. You didn’t care about her kids. You didn’t care about your own damn kids,” she told Olguin.
“I thank God you got caught,” she added, her voice shaking with grief and rage.
De La Cruz took a deep breath and thanked everyone for their work on the case. She said she believed her sister was at peace and told them that she has taken on the challenge of raising her sister’s children.
De La Cruz’s strong emotions returned to her voice as she spoke to Olguin about the effect of the murder on their mother.
“My mom doesn’t sleep thinking about her (Sandra’s) last moments,” she said.
Of her sister, Carmen De La Cruz told Olguin, “This was a good mother, a good friend who you took, a loving mother.”
“May God forgive you. He’s going to show you how to love Him in a foreign land. May God be with you, and let justice prevail . . . May God forgive you, because I can’t,” De La Cruz said.
De La Cruz also held up a color photo of her sister, photos of Sandra and their mother and a photo of Sandra’s children.
Olguin watched De La Cruz throughout her statement, never looking away. Once De La Cruz was done, he was escorted from the courtroom by sheriff’s office bailiffs.
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