“Not only did you kill him, you killed me as well.”
That is what Blanca Garza, the mother of 22-year-old Fernando Garza Jr., who was shot and killed in 2019 after being kidnapped, told her son’s killer, 23-year-old Alfredo Huerta.
The victim’s family read their victim impact statements Monday morning at the 389th state District Court in Edinburg after Huerta was sentenced last week to 40 years in prison for capital murder.
“I can’t believe they’re giving you such a small amount of time in prison,” Garza tearfully said in Spanish.
Before the family gave their statements, Huerta spoke to state District Judge Letty Lopez and asked to have his guilty plea revoked, but the judge shot him down immediately, explaining how she had given him all the time needed to go to trial.
“I had a hundred people waiting for you on Friday for a jury trial,” Lopez said. “I gave you all the admonishments. You answered all the questions. You were sentenced. You are done. There is no withdrawing the plea. Period.”
Huerta was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Friday on the eve of jury selection for his trial after he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering his friend and was ordered to pay $27,500 in restitution.
The Garza family filled two benches in the courtroom and wore custom t-shirts with Fernando’s picture on them in an act of solidarity.
Garza approached the bench with a large tri-fold poster board covered in pictures of Fernando and made sure Huerta could see them as she continuously asked the judge for reassurance to do what she wanted.
The words humble, patient, gentle and loving could be read across the collage of the beloved son and brother.
Garza additionally opened her phone and demonstrated photos she had with Fernando before Huerta killed him.
“These are the last photos I took with my son,” Garza said. “It’s the last memory of him you left me… how much damage you’ve caused us.”
Garza later described the situation as a horror movie she couldn’t wake up from.
“He’s now in a tomb, cold and sad, with two bullets to the face,” Garza said.
Huerta didn’t have much of a reaction to the grieving family during their statements.
The grieving mother went on to say that she would feed Huerta and had even taken him to the clinic when he wasn’t feeling well.
Similarly, one of Fernando’s sisters spoke about the hospitality the family had shown Huerta and how her brother did so much for him.
“He let you into his home. He took care of you. He took care of your daughter. There were hours he went without eating just to make sure you could eat,” the sister said.
She also mentioned that Fernando once went looking for Huerta in a field after he had threatened to kill himself with a machete, but all that hospitality was for nothing.
She also said 40 years in prison wasn’t enough punishment for his crime.
“Forty years isn’t enough because you ruined the lives of all the people that loved him,” the sister said.
Garza later added that Fernando’s birthday and all sorts of family celebrations are now spent in a graveyard.
