The man convicted last month of murdering Salinas Police Department officer Jorge David “JD” Alvarado was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Gustavo Matias Morales, 32, received the mandatory sentence from Judge Rafael Vazquez at Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas on Tuesday afternoon. The sentence comes after a jury convicted Morales on Oct. 24 on all five felony charges that he faced during a two-week trial last month: first-degree murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, assault on a peace officer with a semi-automatic firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful carrying of a loaded firearm in public.
Morales shot and killed Alvarado on the evening of Feb. 25, 2022, after the officer pulled him over during a traffic stop near the intersection of Griffin and East Market streets in Salinas. Morales shot the 30-year-old Alvarado 13 times before fleeing the scene, and was arrested later that night at Salinas Valley Health Medical Center while seeking treatment for a gunshot wound to his hand sustained when Alvarado fired back.
During the trial, Monterey County prosecutors argued that Morales—who was on probation at the time of the shooting, and driving drunk with a suspended license—shot Alvarado and fled the scene in an attempt to avoid arrest and jail. They also called witnesses who testified to Morales’ violent behavior while under the influence of alcohol.
Morales’ attorneys, from the Monterey County Public Defender’s Office, countered that their client had feared for his life due to previous violent encounters with police officers and had acted in self defense—a claim Morales echoed during his own witness testimony at the trial. While making little effort to dispute that he had shot Alvarado, Morales’ defense attorneys had sought to reduce the first-degree murder charge to voluntary manslaughter.
The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said last year that it would not seek the death penalty for Morales.
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