Immigrant pleads to deadly Waynesboro stabbing

A 22-year-old illegal immigrant pleaded guilty Wednesday to the summertime murder of a Waynesboro man and ended a case riddled with questions about the actions of authorities.

Waynesboro Circuit Court Judge Humes J. Franklin Jr. convicted David Luna Sanchez of second-degree murder in the June 27 stabbing death of Eduardo “Piku” Herrera, 39, of 260 N. Commerce Ave.

Franklin sentenced Sanchez to 30 years in prison with 17 suspended, for a net time to serve of 13 years. Upon his release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will deport Sanchez back to Mexico, Franklin said.

“If you attempt to return … your 17 years will be imposed,” the judge said.

Standing at about five feet tall, Sanchez leaned in toward an interpreter to enter a plea in his native tongue.

“Culpable,” he said in Spanish.

“Guilty,” the interpreter echoed.

In his summation of the evidence, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos described the day of the stabbing as a Sunday of heavy drinking for both men involved.

In a recorded police interrogation, Sanchez described going to 260 N. Commerce Ave. to pick up a friend. When he got there, Herrera was nearby cooking fish he’d caught earlier that day, authorities said.

The two men knew each other well.

In December 2008, Sanchez and two accomplices beat Herrera with a baseball bat, a crime that netted each jail time. All three were illegal immigrants.

ICE deported his accomplices in the beating, but a detainer for Sanchez never made it to Middle River Regional Jail in Verona, jail officials said. ICE did not deport Sanchez and he walked away free.

Camblos described the deadly June 27 encounter between Herrera and Sanchez as an “agitated scene.”

Herrera went to get two friends to start a fistfight just after 9 p.m., Camblos said. Sanchez already had two men with him.

“Mr. Sanchez came running across the alleyway at a diagonal,” Camblos said. “They got less than an arm’s length apart from each other and exchanged words in Spanish. They weren’t nice words, to say the very least.”

Herrera took a swing at Sanchez, hitting him hard with his fist and sending him to the ground.

As Sanchez rose up, he stabbed Herrera with a knife; once in the thigh and once in the heart, Camblos said.

Herrera screamed in pain, clasped his chest and ran down the dark alley toward North Delphine Avenue. Sanchez folded the knife and walked toward his car, his forearm covered in blood, authorities said.

Tammy Painter ran into the dark alleyway after her boyfriend Herrera. She testified she found him lying on the street in a pool of blood.

He died there in her arms.

Soon after police swarmed the crime scene, Sanchez and a friend, Abiel Vazquez, 19, of Waynesboro, drove north to Harrisonburg where they decided to flee the state, authorities said.

Almost 10 days later, the men were arrested by Florida police in Putnam County — caught speeding in a primer black Ford Taurus sought by local police.

Waynesboro police Inv. Becky Moran flew south to interview Sanchez. Alongside a Putnam County interpreter, Moran asked Sanchez questions about the night of the murder and his involvement. He confessed to the stabbing, saying, “it was not my intention to get him.”

Had the case gone to trial, the confession may never have made it into evidence, attorneys said. The interpreter failed to relay a request by Sanchez that an attorney be present during the interview, a transcript showed.

Legal experts and professional interpreters queried by The News Virginian deemed the interpreter’s actions to be in violation of the suspect’s Miranda Rights.

Authorities refused to identify the interpreter.

In court, Camblos said he believed a 13-year sentence was appropriate.

“Herrera hit him first, so there is a self-defense issue there,” he said.

Vazquez is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in Waynesboro General District Court on Friday. He faces a charge of being a principle in the second degree in the killing.