Denver killer who shot 16-year-old girl in Montbello sentenced to 7 years in youth offender program
The family of Aaliyah Cortez, a 16-year-old Colorado girl who was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in Denver's Montbello neighborhood, feels justice was not served.
On Tuesday, the Granados-Cortez family had a chance to be heard in a courtroom as they sat across from Cortez's murderer.
A judge sentenced 18-year-old Brandon Sandoval -- who was 17 at the time of the crime -- to seven years in the Youthful Offender System. It's a program that allows rehabilitation for youth. If he's not successful in the program, he could spend nearly 50 years in prison.
Both the victim and the defendant's family were present in court and both gave impact heart-wrenching statements.
Despite the victim's family's hope for a harsher sentence, the family feels their needs went unheard.
"I am feeling like I am living the same day all over again," said Jennifer Granados-Cortez, Cortez's older sister.
Granados-Cortez says she feels like she's stuck in a nightmare lately.
"I just want my sister back and nothing will ever, ever bring her back," said Granados-Cortez.
On Tuesday she had to reminisce on Jan. 11, 2023 -- the day Cortez was killed inside her car in her arms.
Inside the courtroom, they even replayed the 911 call she made that night.
"I literally was fighting for her with everything I could, and it got taken from me," she said.
The sisters had planned to meet with someone they met over the social media app Snapchat to sell them some THC vape pens. When they arrived at the location, Granados-Cortez was then approached by the suspect and he pointed a gun at her head. She then threw the items out the car and tried to drive away, but lost traction on the ice. Sandoval grabbed onto the door and reached into the car through the window as the sisters tried to fight him, he then pulled the trigger.
Twelve hours later, Cortez succumbed to her injuries.
"Although I am the oldest out of nine, I failed all of them. I can't go to the store, I can't go out, I am scared because what if something could happen again," said Granados-Cortez.
Sandoval will now face seven years in Youth Offender System. The family was hoping he would get a sentence of 21 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
According to Bill Winter, the Senior Deputy District Attorney with the Denver District Attorney's office, the fact that Sandoval was 17 at the time of the crime complicates the legal situation. If Sandoval had been 18, the case would have gone to trial without any plea offers. Due to his age, a reverse transfer hearing was necessary. That could have sent him back to the juvenile division. The juvenile division would have released Sandoval at age 21. The judge instead sentenced Sandoval to the Youth Offender System.
Wendy Cortez, Cortez's mother, had a breakdown inside the courtroom, saying she felt the sentence was not fair.
"I feel like the justice system failed my daughter, the sentencing is a joke, nothing what it should've been," said Wendy.
Wendy began a nonprofit called Slowly but Surely to honor her daughter by helping deter youth from violence.
But as the holidays are around the corner, all the victim's family could think of is the pain that will linger forever from losing Cortez.
"Be grateful for what you guys have. It's not the same for me. Everybody goes on with life, but I'm stuck in a little corner, dark pitch black," said Granados-Cortez.