A 32-year-old man convicted of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter for slamming his SUV into a police car in 2014, killing an officer and critically injuring his partner during a Harbor City pursuit, had his sentence reduced to 22 years to life in state prison after a change in state law.
Mynor Enrique Varela was originally sentenced in 2018 to life without the chance of parole after his conviction for the May 3, 2014, death of Officer Roberto Sanchez, who served with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Division and was a six-year member of the force and a 32-year-old newlywed.
Under the law, which went into effect in 2023, inmates can file a petition for resentencing. A judge can consider rehabilitation, among other things, in ruling whether to modify the sentence.
Varela has been behind bars since the crash.
Judge James D. Otto said he considered Varela’s behavior as well as statements from Sanchez’s partner on the night of the crash and another responding officer. Otto struck a special circumstance tied to the murder charge.
Varela, who didn’t speak at his original sentencing in 2018, read a letter Wednesday while appearing for the hearing virtually.
“Officer Roberto Sanchez was a good man, husband and member of his family,” Varela said. “If it wasn’t for my selfish actions, he would be here today.”
Varela, who has since gotten married and has a 4-month-old daughter, said every time he holds his daughter, “I understand the joy I took from Roberto Sanchez and his wife.”
He said he wants to “continue to live a life of service in (Sanchez’s) honor,” continues to live a sober life and wants to give back to his community.
“I choose to share my story with others so they do not take the destructive path I took,” he said.
Still, the officers who spoke Wednesday urged Otto to maintain Varela’s original sentence.
“This individual’s request to have his conviction overturned further proves the individual has no remorse or care for what he has done,” said Officer Maria Carlos, who was one of the officers who responded to the crash.
Carlos, who remembered Sanchez for having “that bright smile he had on his face anytime he walked through the doors,” recalled hearings leading up to the trials when Varela “would smirk and laugh.”
“It hit home, and it hit hard,” she said of the crash.
Sanchez and his partner, Officer Richard Medina, were on patrol and sitting in their patrol car doing paperwork and talking when they got the call of a driver doing doughnuts nearby and considered responding, Medina told the court.
“I have to live with that decision: Me asking him and telling him I wanted to handle the radio call that would eventually take the life of my partner, injure me and change the lives of so many people,” Medina said.
Medina referred to Sanchez as his best friend and said they would routinely mesh their schedules so they could work together. Medina has since become a field-training officer.
As Sanchez and Medina pursued the driver, Varela’s friend Oscar Vergara, Varela drove at an estimated 63 mph and slammed into the driver’s side of the patrol car that was chasing his friend. Sanchez died at a hospital and Medina had surgery for a broken jaw that was wired shut for weeks.
Varela initially ran from the crash, but turned himself in nine hours later.
He faced trial twice, the first resulting in a hung jury on the most serious charges, but convictions for assault on a police officer and hit-and-run. He was convicted of second-degree murder and gross vehicular manslaughter after the second trial. His attorneys argued that Varela did not have enough time to avoid hitting the police car as it was making a U-turn in front of him.
Deputy District Attorney Geoff Lewin extended an offer to have Varela serve 25 years in state prison instead of the resentencing, but defense attorney Steve Liner, after speaking privately with Varela, told the court he wanted to proceed with the resentencing. Lewin said he had previously offered Varela around 28 years in state prison before trial.
Whether the District Attorney’s Office would appeal the resentencing was unclear.