Son sentenced for mom's murder as family says they'll 'erase' him from lives

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Buttons with the picture of Maria Elias filled a Fresno County Courtroom Tuesday as family members packed in to remember her.

"She died at the hands of someone she loved," prosecutor Kaitlin Drake read aloud from a letter written by Elias' daughter, Sylvia.

As Sylvia sat with her family members, they all wore white.

Just feet away, family member Juan Mata was sitting in a red jumpsuit.

"I will never forgive you for what you have done to my family and I. May 18, 2020, was the day she died, as well as the day you did to us," Sylvia said in her letter.

Prosecutors say Mata turned on his mother and killed her. The woman's home was the site of a brutal scene.

Investigators say a blade was still inside her, and a power cord was wrapped around her neck when they arrived.

"I believe no one should die the way she did," Sylvia wrote.

Mata denied the murder charge against him for nearly five years.

He first pleaded not guilty and then later not guilty by reason of insanity.

But after a mental health evaluation, his case went to trial in February.

Two days in, he pleaded no contest, agreeing not to fight the charge any longer.

"Mr. Mata, you are sentenced to 15 years to life for the murder of your mother," Judge Brian Alvarez said. He then added six more years, sending Mata away for 21 years to life in total.

It was part of an agreement with prosecutors.

"I hope he rots in prison for the rest of his life with the thoughts of what he did to the only person on earth that truly and will forever love him," Sylvia wrote.

"After today, we will erase the idea of you ever being in our lives."

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