SALT LAKE CITY — It has been almost two years since 7-year-old Maria Menchaca was gunned down while playing in front of her Glendale home. But the passage of time has not kept her father, Gilberto Menchaca, from looking for the girl when he goes to pick up his other children from school or sees them crossing the street.
"Since that happened, I haven't been able to sleep or anything," he said haltingly as he spoke through his tears Friday at a sentencing hearing for one of three people charged in his daughter's death. "When I see children in the street, I think I'm going to see my child, and she's not there. She didn't do anything. Why did they do it?"
The father has had to stand in front of 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas three separate times at various sentencing hearings for the three defendants to tell him of the horrors and sorrows of his loss.
"We've visited three times about this case; hopefully, this is the last," Himonas said.
The third and final defendant in the case, Mae Goodman Johnson, 17, was sentenced Friday to serve one to 15 years in prison for her role in the crime. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, in December 2008.
Police say Johnson, Frank Puga Benavidez, 22, and Gabriel Alejandro Alvarez, who was then 16, planned the drive-by shooting on July 6, 2008, as retaliation for a verbal altercation that broke out earlier that day with one of Maria's cousins, Luis Menchaca.
Benavidez, Alvarez and Johnson left the area, plotted the shooting and then came back later, according to court documents. Johnson supplied the gun, Benavidez drove the vehicle and Alvarez shot at Luis Menchaca but ended up killing young Maria instead.
Alvarez and Benavidez both pleaded guilty to murder, a first-degree felony, and were sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
Johnson openly wept as Gilberto Menchaca spoke and later apologized for the pain her actions have caused his family. She said she thinks of her younger brother, who is 8 years old, and thinks of how difficult it would be to lose him, in an effort to understand what the Menchaca family has gone through.
"Every time I look at my little brother, I see her face," she said. "It hurts every day just to think about it. Even though I didn't know that little girl, I did see her grow up, and it was never my intention to hurt her. It never was."
But the judge chided her, reminding her that "there is no way you can feel that family's pain."
Johnson's attorney, Clayton Simms, asked that the 17-year-old be sentenced to two years in jail to add to the two she has already spent there. He said she has undergone a "tremendous amount of growth" while in jail and has taken part in a number of programs, including an LDS Institute course.
"She recognizes the pain she caused. It is genuine," Simms said. "The jail environment has been better for her than home. She's in school, taking classes in science, history and math and reading spiritual books."
Prosecutor Blake Hills was adamant, though, that prison time was appropriate and that Johnson be given the one-to-15-year sentence that was recommended.
"This defendant played a crucial role in the death of a 7-year-old girl, and nothing we can do will make it better. But we can see that justice is served," he told the judge.
The family declined to comment after the hearing, but Hills indicated that they had wanted Johnson to get the maximum sentence possible. Gilberto Menchaca had asked that Johnson get prison time, stating that a four-year sentence wouldn't be fair.
"This accident changed my life forever," he said. "When they're talking about giving three to four years … I'm not going to get my daughter back, her life, I don't think that's right. I don't think that's fair."
If she serves her full sentence, Johnson will be 31 years old when she is released from prison, which her attorney hopes is enough time for her to "prove herself."
e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com