Christmas Morning Stabber Sentenced

Sergio Quintana, 36, was sentenced Wednesday morning to seven years in state prison for a Christmas Day stabbing which left a neighbor with serious injuries. The conflict was apparently the result of a past relationship between the victim and Quintana’s wife.

Quintana had earlier pleaded to a felony count of assault with the use of a deadly weapon, and he also admitted a special allegation that his attack caused great bodily injury. In exchange for his plea, an attempted murder charge was dismissed.

He also admitted a probation violation, and was sentenced to a prison term to run concurrent with his seven year sentence. The probation violation stems from a previous felony battery charge and a felony stalking charge, along with a misdemeanor violation of a restraining order related to a domestic violence incident involving his wife.

“I thought it was a fair resolution of the case,” prosecutor Paula Waldman said.

The victim, who was injured quite badly, and continues to have lingering hearing issues from a wound near the ear, had a statement for the court — read by Waldman — in which he called Quintana “nothing but a coward.” Christmas Day is a day to be spent with family, the statement from Cesar Ortega read, “not a day to be rushed to the hospital with bleeding stab wounds.”

According to authorities, a videotape captured the incident on the Eastside, and clearly depicts the defendant. The two lived near each other and had a “long history of bad blood between them because of a love interest,” said a police lieutenant at the time. “Why did you wait all these years to come back at me,” Ortega said, alluding to some sort of past he had with Quintana’s wife. “Look at where your jealousy has gotten you. This started when she cheated on you when you were living with her.”

“You trying to kill me failed but you have made me a stronger man,” Ortega’s statement read. After the harsh statement was read, defense attorney Joseph Martinez objected to it being submitted, calling it an ad hominem attack that “doesn’t fit the definition of a victim impact statement.” Judge Rick Brown agreed, and struck out most of the submitted statement, allowing only parts which related to how the stabbing affected the victim.