Spring Valley Man Convicted in Fatal Stabbing Sentenced to 26 Years in Prison

A Spring Valley man convicted of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of an East County resident who defeated him in a fistfight three months earlier was sentenced Thursday to 26 years to life in state prison.

Hector Hernandez-Romero, 33, was sentenced by El Cajon Judge Gary Bubis.

Prosecutors said the defendant went to a home in the 700 block of Sacramento Avenue about 8:10 p.m. last March 16 and argued with 30-year-old Roque Varela

Varela, who died at a hospital about a half-hour after the attack, had been visiting a friend that he and Hernandez-Romero had in common at the time of the stabbing, prosecutors said.

The defendant was arrested about 5:50 a.m. the next day at a residence in the 3200 block of Central Avenue in Spring Valley.

Witnesses testified that the victim and the defendant had argued and fought three months earlier when Hernandez-Romero told Varela to quiet down as the victim talked on his cellphone in front of the defendant's home.

The two men did not know each other before the fight, which Varela won, Deputy District Attorney Heather Trocha said.

–City News Service