A man who nearly three years earlier was dragged from under a home in Morgan Hill was convicted of second degree murder last week for the stabbing death of an 18-year-old high school senior in 2003.
Jorge S. Torres, 26, of San Jose, will be sentenced Sept. 5 to 15 years to life in state prison.
"There is no leeway, that's what he'll get," said Deputy District Attorney Daniel Carr. "(The sentencing) is an opportunity for the victim's family to address the defendant."Vicente Yuen had just turned 18 a few days before May 5, 2003. He was going to graduate from high school in just over a month. He and his friends decided to attend the Cinco de Mayo festival in San Jose and enjoy the festivities, according to Carr.
Two carloads of teenagers parked at the USA gas station at Story Road and McGuinness Avenue, and everybody was having a good time, Carr added. Yuen wandered out into the street to talk to some girls when there was a red light, and a car coming into the intersection driven by Andrew Flores with Torres as a passenger hit Yuen.
Carr said Yuen hit the hood of the vehicle and yelled something to Flores, such as "What are you doing," then Torres jumped out of the car and stabbed Yuen in the heart. Yuen tried to get away, but Torres chased him down and stabbed him a second time in the heart before getting back into the car and fleeing.
Yuen wandered back and collapsed. He was later pronounced dead, though according to the coroner's testimony, he might have lived a minute and a half as the knife went through the aorta and into his lung.
Torres allegedly fled to Mexico after the stabbing, but was spotted in Morgan Hill on Sept. 15, 2005, by Morgan Hill police officer Kyle Christensen, who stopped him for a red light violation. Torres gave false information to Christensen, and as the officer's questions continued, Torres fled, running off through Paradise Park in southeast Morgan Hill.
Officers set up a perimeter in the area of La Crosse Avenue in south Morgan Hill after learning a Torres' parents lived in a home on Via Castana. SWAT members were called in overnight and some residents in the area were asked to evacuate at 4:30 a.m. Resident Curt Casey said at the time he was very startled.
"It was a bit surprising," he said. "I came downstairs, and there was this SWAT guy in full gear."
Casey and his wife went to a nearby coffee shop to await the end of the operation after telling officers they could use the Casey home as a base for negotiators.
Nearby Paradise Valley Elementary School was locked down, with students ushered quickly inside as they arrived for their school day.
It was believed Torres was hiding in a crawl space under the home, but officers did not know if he had a weapon. SWAT members Cpl. Shane Palsgrove, now a sergeant, and Sgt. Rick Rodriguez went into the coffin-like crawl space and brought Torres out. No one was injured.
"I've been on the job for 30 years, and you have to see it as your job, what you have to do," Rodriguez said Monday. "I am happy for the family of the victim, that they will have closure. I think the conviction will be important for them."
Lucinda Yuen, Vincente's mother, said she was pleased with Torres' conviction.
"It's been a long five years," she said. "At one point, I didn't think my son's killer was going to be caught. I can't say enough about the work of the police, the SWAT team, those officers that went under the house to bring him out."
Rodriguez and Palsgrove received the department's first medals of bravery for their actions.
"It was my team that went out there," Morgan Hill police Special Operations Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said. "It was good teamwork, setting up a perimeter with limited manpower ... The persistence of the SWAT team, it was a potentially dangerous situation they handled well."
Marilyn Dubil Marilyn Dubil covered education and law enforcement for The Times.
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