Buena man gets 50-year sentence in double murder

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The families of a pair of young men gunned down nearly two years ago in Toppenish hope the maximum 50-year prison sentence imposed Monday on shooter Anthony Sanchez will send a message to other gang members.

"That if this is what you do, this is what you get," Estevan Silva Sr., whose son was killed in the March 5, 2009, shooting, said after the sentencing in Yakima County Superior Court.

Estevan Silva Jr., 17, and Israel Diaz, 20, were walking with two other friends along railroad tracks near the intersection of Buena Way and Washington Avenue when a car pulled up and words were exchanged. Sanchez fired shots from the car, killing Silva and Diaz, neither of whom was armed.

The random brutality of the shooting shook this rural Lower Valley town, sparking a grass-roots movement to fight crime and violence in town that has made progress.

During the sentencing hearing, Sanchez, 22, sat quietly in the crowded courtroom as family members tearfully described Silva and Diaz, hoping Judge David Elofson would impose the stiffest penalty allowed under the guidelines. He did, choosing the maximum of a 36- to 50-year range for two counts of second-degree murder and assault.

"The fact that these boys may have been gang members doesn’t matter — you cut them down," Elofson told Sanchez. "It looked like these boys had a future. They were just boys.

"I think your conduct is so outrageous that you are a danger to the community. I think that both families forgive you and I hope you understand the depth that took them."

Sanchez’ eyes flashed with anger as he glanced across the courtroom when Elofson delivered the sentence. He murmured obscenities and a bailiff told him to watch his tone.

Sanchez’ sister, 21-year-old Isabel Sanchez, who drove the car from which her brother fired the shots, will be sentenced Wednesday.

Before Elofson’s decision, family members remembered the victims. Clad in a green jumpsuit, Sanchez leaned back in his chair and stroked his goatee as Jeneatte Silva told the court that her 17-year-old son never got into a fight in school and was on target to graduate from Zillah High School this year.

"But unfortunately, that won’t happen," she said, handing the judge pictures of her son. "As you can see, he was a happy kid," she said.

She reflected on one night when her son told her he was feeling pressure from gang members, and asked her if he could carry a gun.

"I told him no. I told him, ‘I never taught you to carry a gun. I never taught you to be violent,’" she recalled. "He took my advice, and unfortunately, a week later he and his friend were murdered.’"

In his statement to police, Sanchez described Diaz as a friend, and said the shooting was sparked when one of the four young men reached down to pick up rocks to throw at his sister’s car.

But Silva’s mother disputed that account, saying her other son, then 15, was an eyewitness. She said he told police that the car was following them as they were walking from their grandmother’s house on the east side of town.

"This is tragic. This is horrific. This is going to be with us for a long time," she said.

Silva’s aunt, Gisal Reiz, told the court how her nephew loved to collect rocks, play basketball and fish.

"This is an awful thing for the one who did this, Anthony Sanchez," she said. "I want to ask God to forgive him ... for him to repent for what he did."

Diaz’ girlfriend, Norma Lustre, wept as she told the court how her 2-year-old daughter will never get to be held by her father. Diaz’ daughter was only 5 months old when he was killed. Lustre and Diaz were separated at the time.

"I know that he wanted to see her and hold her, but that will never happen," she said.

While assistant prosecutor Duane Knittle pressed the judge for the maximum sentence, Sanchez’s attorney, Greg Scott, argued for the lighter sentence. Scott said that Sanchez admitted to police what he’d done, and was truly sorry.

After telling the family he felt bad for what happened, Sanchez said the boys were gang members and that the parents should have kept them out of gangs. 

"We all know what gangbanging is — it’s either hospitals, jails or death," he told the families. "If you wanted something better for your kids, then you shouldn’t have let them gangbang — they were just like me, gangbangers."

Both families said their sons were not gang members. Silva’s father said Sanchez showed no true remorse and was offended by his comments.

"To me, that was a slap in the face," he said. "It’s really hard."

Silva’s mother and aunt said they were satisfied with the sentence. 

"I think all of us, we are at peace," Reiz said. "We said what we felt about our loved ones."

Since the shooting, a local group, Community Safety Network, has organized block watches and graffiti paint-out programs, and have been holding monthly meetings to get residents involved. The effort seems to be making a difference, said Toppenish Police Chief Adam Diaz.

Gang crime fell more than 50 percent last year and the city has seen a stark decrease in graffiti, he said. 

"That was huge," he said.

It’s hoped that other residents will join the effort to make Toppenish and the rest of the Yakima Valley safer, said Frank East, a church pastor who heads the graffiti paint-out program.

"Our hope is that our community will learn that we need to participate in redeeming our community," he said. "I think it’s a wake-up call that we all can’t sit back and do nothing or else this is going to take place."

• Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.