David Marmolejo Sentenced To 54 Years In Prison For Mom’s Murder

David Marmolejo faced life in prison for killing his 54-year-old mother but a San Antonio jury sentenced him to 54 years in prison on Wednesday.

He also was given the maximum fine of $10,000. He faced up to life in prison. David will be eligible for parole in 27 years.

It took a San Antonio jury just three hours Tuesday morning to find David, 31, guilty of murder in the July 2009 strangling death of his mother. David’s first trial in October 2010 ended with a mistrial when jurors deadlocked on a verdict after more than 2 1/2 days of deliberations.

David did not have any reaction after the sentence was read. Some family members were present for the sentencing, including David’s wife Laura, his uncles Conrad Huerta and Mark Huerta and his sister-in-law Jennifer Marmolejo.

After the sentence was read, Judge Gonzalo Garcia asked David if he had anything to say and David responded that he did. Before he began, Garcia told David that this trial has not been easy for him. He told David the weekend between the first and second week of the first trial, the judge buried his father. So he knows what it’s like to lose a parent.

“I would like to say that I still maintain my innocence, sir,” David told the judge. “I lost my mother just as you lost your mother. I did not commit this crime. I don’t mind going to prison, but for something I did. I didn’t commit this crime. So I thank you judge for all your help, for maintaining the law. I thank the jurors. I thank my attorney. I thank everyone involved.”

David then spoke to his family, but again, was adamant he did not kill his mother.

“I apologize to my family, for putting them through this,” David said. “Even though I shouldn’t have to apologize for the things I didn’t do.”

Garcia then responded that it’s not easy for any judge to be a part of a case like this and he said he gets no pleasure out of sentencing a person to 54 years in prison.

“I can only pray and hope that what has occurred here today is a right an just act,” Garcia said. “Good luck, Mr. Marmolejo.”

David’s uncle told ABC-7 that the family put their faith in the justice system and it came through for them.

“We think that it was done correctly,” Mark Huerta said of the verdict and prison sentence. “It hurts. Our family loses again, obviously. We’re a strong family and we’re going to continue try to stick together but of course this is going to put a another big – give us a heavier heart again. It’s not easy to put my nephew … away but my sister didn’t deserve what happened to her either.”

Manny Marmolejo, David’s brother, told ABC-7 he thinks his mother would still want him to love David and try and make peace with him over her murder. But Manny is not sure if that will happen.

“That question is really difficult,” Manny said. “He took my mom away from me and I know somewhere in the bottom of my heart I do still feel love for him but I can’t find that right now. I had a hard time just being in the courtroom with him right now. I know my mom would want me to make some sort of peace effort with him but right now that’s not going to happen. You know, I can’t say if it ever will. I know she still wants me to be there for him one way or another because that’s the kind of person she was but I don’t know if that day will ever come.”

The family’s fight for justice isn’t over yet. They said they plan to pursue legal action against David’s stepsister and girlfriend at the time of the murder, Mariah Wilson, who admitted she helped him cover up the crime and dump Gloria’s body in the desert.

“We still want to see if there can be charges pressed against her,” Mark Huerta said. “We still want to press on against her, whether her involvement was minimal or she she had a bigger part, she was involved. So, we would still like for her or anyone else that was involved to have a sentence for them, too.”

Wilson did not testify in the second trial, but did testify in the first trial under a full immunity agreement with the prosecution. In the first trial, Wilson testified that David admitted to her that he killed his mother and they both disposed of the body in the desert.

Just as in the first trial, Wilson’s name was brought up several times in the second trial by the defense as a person El Paso Police should have looked at as a suspect. Because she did not testify in the second trial the jury could not be told about her full immunity. Under the immunity agreement, the state would not file charges against Wilson if she testified truthfully.

Before the family left the courthouse Wednesday, they stopped by to see David. They said David was crying and begged for them not to forget about him.

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