19-year-old sentenced for killing student outside Richfield school

In the second sentencing in as many days related to the killing of a Twin Cities teenager, a 19-year-old received a 23½-year prison term for gunning down one student and critically injuring another outside a Richfield alternative school last year.

Fernando Valdez-Alvarez's sentencing for the killing of 15-year-old Jahmari Kei'Fee Rice again involved the murder of a student-athlete. Rice played football for two seasons at Richfield High School before transferring to South Education Center Academy one day before he was killed by then-18-year-old Valdez-Alvarez on Feb. 1. Eight days later, Minneapolis North High quarterback Deshaun Hill Jr., 15, was shot while walking to the bus stop from school; his killer Cody Fohrenkam was sentenced to 38½ years on Tuesday.

Hill's parents joined Rice's family on Wednesday to show their support; Rice's father attended Fohrenkam's sentencing. The families said their sons are buried right next to each other. The Hills were at Rice's funeral when news broke of their son's killing. Both boys dreamed of making it to the NFL before their lives were cut short.

"I couldn't imagine anyone sending their kid to school and not coming back. But more importantly being murdered," Jahmari's father, Cortez Rice, said during the sentencing. "I hope you rot in hell and you're haunted by your sins."

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement that her office will continue to aggressively prosecute cases, but the "community must do more to stop this violence."

"In a one-week period last February two families each faced their worst nightmare, the tragic loss of their 15-year-old sons to senseless gun violence," she said. "These two kids had full lives ahead of them, but that promise was destroyed in brief flashes of anger."

Valdez-Alvarez pleaded guilty on the year anniversary of the shooting to second-degree unintentional murder and first-degree intentional assault. He was originally charged with five felony counts, including three counts of intentional murder.

His best friend and accomplice, Alfredo Rosario Solis, 20, was acquitted of attempted murder in December and sentenced Jan. 3 to three years for assault.

District Judge Paul Scoggin called Solis "a very lucky man" in light of the sentence he could have faced with a conviction.

Valdez-Alvarez has admitted that he went to his car with Solis around lunchtime and they were followed by Rice and two other students. One of the students began to strike Solis, and Valdez-Alvarez got a firearm from his car and said he was acting in self-defense.

Prosecutor Krista White said that Rice didn't touch anyone that day. And while Rice's family has taken issue with the plea not being for intentional murder, she said that the negotiation does not lessen the conduct that resulted in this tragic loss.

"A school day was abruptly ended by gun violence and Jahmari Rice lost his life," she said. "Nothing will ever be enough to right that wrong."

Valdez-Alvarez on Wednesday waived his right to have the final words in court. "I'm good," he said to Scoggin when given the opportunity to speak.

Scoggin said he didn't accept arguments by public defender James Horvath that Valdez-Alvarez didn't intend to kill Rice.

"I think the fact that you fired twice at somebody — not once, but twice — speaks volumes to what your intention was," Scoggin said. "If you truly want to put yourself in a place where you can live peacefully in our society, you're going to have to come to grips with what you did and take full responsibility in your head, in your soul, of what you actually did to Mr. Rice."

Horvath said the terrible choices Valdez-Alvarez made that day do not define him and "he's committed to this not being the end of his life." While incarcerated, he said his client graduated from high school. He aims to run a construction company once he is released from prison after serving two-thirds of his sentence, which is about 16 years.

Cortez Rice made several outbursts during Horvath's comments, saying that "he's a monster," and that Horvath was "making a joke out of the court now." He anxiously bounced his leg, cried and threw his hands in the air as Horvath stressed the killing was unintentional.

Cortez Rice said he had to move out of his apartment because it was just two blocks from the cemetery where his son was laid to rest. He's in grief counseling and said he's numb to life, depressed and often drifts off thinking about his son who "brought joy to our hearts."

He said that Valdez-Alvarez endangered an entire school full of young students and there should have been harsher penalties for schoolground shootings.

"Every time I hear about school violence I cringe while being retraumatized," he cried out.

Jahmari Rice's aunt, Jasmine Hollins, couldn't read her victim impact statement without first bursting into tears, holding her head in her hands as she sobbed in front of Scoggin. "The death of my nephew has truly changed my life," she said before grabbing a handful of tissues.

"Some days I get sick to my stomach and I'm at a loss for words when I hear his name, see his picture or when my son asks me about him, I freeze up."

"He will forever be 15 years old. This is not fair," she said. "Time isn't healing anything. It's just getting sadder and more of a disbelief without him."

Great-grandmother Lucille Matias sat in the gallery but had White read her statement to the judge. The teenager lived with Matias and Hollins at the time of his death. But they also had to move because it was too painful to be there without him.

"Having to lose my baby has had me up at all times of the night, no sleep, crying, wondering if I could have did something to stop it," she said. "There's always a tear in my eyes for him."

The judge affirmed the emotions of Jahmari Rice's family. He also wanted to recognize the other victim in this case, Elijah Tellez, who he said suffered "enormous pain." He, too, was shot in the chest but survived.

"The intense pain and anger that Mr. Rice's family feels is completely justified. … It's hard to think of anything that's worse than the violent loss of a child."

Cortez Rice said, while flanked by Deshaun Hill's parents during a news conference, that they now have to use their pain to push for change. He said his passion is to save kids from gun violence and prevent similar tragedies.

"Turning our pain into purpose, that's what we can do. Passion without direction is chaos, and so we gotta turn our pain into purpose."