MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A man who slashed his girlfriend 26 times was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison on Monday, before the distraught family of his victim.
The parents of murder victim Christina Hernandez, who was just 25 when she was killed in 2008 by boyfriend Jesus Alejandro, were sobbing as they described the torture that the loss of their daughter has caused their family, including the victim's then-5-year-old son.
About two dozen family members, some of them wearing t-shirts with Hernandez's photo and a message "We Want Justice," filled a large section of the courtroom at the sentencing.
The victim's tearful father, Wilfredo Hernandez, called his daughter's killer a "monster" and told him he would never stop despising him for what he did.
"My family will never forgive you and we will always hate you and wish nothing but the worst for you," he said. "I hope you spend the rest of your life in prison like my daughter will spend her life in heaven."
Alejandro, then 18, attacked Hernandez in her 234 East 119th St. apartment because, he claimed at trial, he feared she would post an embarrassing YouTube video of him. Prosecutors said there was no credibility to that story.
Police caught him as he tried to flee the scene by running down the fire escape, on April 23, 2008.
"You destroyed my life. You ripped my heart out," said Hernandez's mother, Maria Justiniano.
"Call it motherly instinct but I knew you were trouble," the grieving mother added.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sigall said a detective who testified at Alejandro's trial was fighting back tears on the witness stand. Sigall said the detective called the murder the second worst he had ever seen, and he had seen hundreds.
"This was a gruesome, horrible murder," Sigall said. "Blood was everywhere."
When offered the chance to speak, Alejandro offered an apology to his girlfriend's family and said, "If I had been in my right state of mind I wouldn't have done this."
His attorney had argued at trial that he was emotionally disturbed when he killed Hernandez.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro said it was "striking" that while in jail, Alejandro allegedly attacked a female corrections officer and was clearly still experiencing anger issues.
"Clearly sir, you certainly have anger problems," Carro said, before ordering him to prison.
