More of Bush's Family Values

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 477151.htm

Posted on Wed, Jan. 17, 2007

MAXIMUM SENTENCE IS 30 YEARS
Teen gets 25 years in slaying of his cousin
Lancaster, S.C., youth pleads guilty to stabbing 12-year-old girl 22 times; 2 others have pleaded in 2004 crime
TOYA GRAHAM
(Rock Hill) Herald

CHESTER, S.C. - A Lancaster youth was sentenced to 25 years Tuesday after pleading guilty to killing his first cousin by stabbing her 22 times.

Diego Reyes Campos, 16, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the December 2004 stabbing of 12-year-old Jessica Mora. The crime carries a sentence of up to 30 years, Circuit Judge James Barber said.

"Thirty years won't give these folks justice because their child won't be at the dinner table," Barber said.

Campos pleaded just before jury selection was to begin in his murder trial.

The youth, who was 14 when Mora was killed, braced as Barber handed down the sentence.

"You did a hideous thing, attacking this little girl," Barber said at the Chester County Courthouse.

Campos' attorney, Stephen Schusterman, said the sentence will not be appealed.

"I'm relieved he's not going to jail for life without parole," Schusterman said. "On the other hand, he was still a 14-year-old boy."

Campos, a Mexican who moved to the United States at age 11, was returned to the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice, where he has been held since his arrest.

Also charged in connection with Jessica's killing were Lancaster residents Mario Torres, then 18, and Alfonso Sanchez Caballero, then 20.

Torres pleaded guilty last week to knowing about the crime and not reporting it. In December, Caballero pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact.

Sentencing was withheld for both men. They remained in custody Tuesday at the Chester County Detention Center.

The pleas stem from an incident that began on the night of Dec. 5, 2004.

Jessica was at home with her mother, according to Assistant 6th Circuit Solicitor Chris Taylor.

"She received a telephone call from Alfonso Caballero," Taylor said. "She talked with Alfonso for a few minutes."

At some point that night, Caballero and Torres picked up Campos, Taylor said.

"The defendant had talked about doing something to Jessica," said Taylor, who added Campos was upset because Jessica had been talking to his girlfriend. The Herald previously reported that Campos thought Jessica was trying to sabotage his relationship with his girlfriend.

"He retrieved a knife from the house," Taylor said in court. "They told him he couldn't get in the car with the knife," and thought he had left it behind.

The threesome then picked up Jessica, Taylor said.

"Jessica apparently left home on her own," Taylor said.

She was stabbed 22 times, Taylor said.

That brought inconsolable sobs from Jessica's sisters and her mother, who clutched a framed picture of her daughter. Across the courtroom, Campos and his mother cried as Jessica's mother was led from the courtroom. After emotions cooled, Taylor continued.

"(Campos) left her when she was still screaming," Taylor said. "He then went back to her because she was still screaming and moving, and stabbed her until she stopped."

Later, Caballero dropped off Torres and Campos, he said.

Meanwhile, at the Mora home, the family attempted in vain to enter the girl's bedroom, Taylor said. "Jessica apparently placed a small piece of furniture in front of the door," he said.

The Mora family called police and went with them to the homes of Campos, Caballero and Torres, Taylor said.

Jessica's body was found around 7:30 that morning.

Hours after the killing, Caballero and Torres went to officials. Officers later that day picked up Campos at school, Taylor said.