Chavez death penalty: 'He's going to pay the price'

El Paso County Sheriff's Deputy Peter Herrera's family members sighed but didn't immediately express their emotions after a judge announced a jury had sentenced Facundo Chavez to death.

After remaining silent during the two-week-long capital murder trial, family members returned one last time to the Enrique Moreno Courthouse to confront Chavez, the gunman convicted in the brutal shooting and beating of Herrera during a 2019 traffic stop.

"I'll never know why you had so much hate towards my son when he was just trying to do what he loved, which was to protect the county of El Paso, the citizens of El Paso," Esther Herrera, the deputy's mother, said as she cried. "There is evil. There is evil amongst us and it's very sad. But I will stay strong because I have wonderful memories instilled in my mind that no one can steal. That thief that night stole my son from me."

The victim impact statements on Thursday marked the end of the trial that resulted in a jury convicting Chavez of capital murder of a peace officer and then sentencing him to death.

Ashley Herrera, Herrera's wife, cried as she told Chavez that he completely shattered her life when he killed her husband.

"There's no getting back to life. All your life was destroyed. Every single aspect of who I am has been different since March 22, 2019," she said. "Peter was the love of my life and we loved each other fiercely."

More: 'I shot Deputy Herrera': Capital murder suspect Facundo Chavez takes stand at trial

She added, "I think people are right when they say it's the little things you miss the most. Peter should be remembered not as another statistic, but as a hero. An amazing man who sacrificed his life every day to protect others."

Chavez sat in the jury box only a few feet away from where the Herrera family sat to give their victim impact statements. The gunman looked at the floor and occasionally stared blankly at the family as they cried telling him the devastating impact his actions had on their lives.

Judge Diane Navarrete, Criminal District Court 1, officially sentenced Chavez to death before allowing family members to deliver their victim impact statements.

During a news briefing at the El Paso District Attorney's office after the trial ended, DA Bill Hicks, El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles and two Herrera family members gathered to share their reactions to the trial's outcome.

Deputy Herrera was a shining example of a man dedicated to serving his community, Wiles said.

"Peter Herrera was not only a loving son, brother, uncle, but he was also a great deputy. He could have chosen to do many things in life, but he chose law enforcement because he felt an obligation to his community and wanted to help people," Wiles said. "That night, that's exactly what he was doing. He was enforcing the law, he was doing his job. I would even say he was doing more than what was expected of him by making a traffic stop at that hour, at that location by himself. It just shows his commitment to keeping El Paso safe. And unfortunately, that stop turned tragic."

The death penalty given to Chavez sends a strong message to El Paso, Wiles said.

"It's important to look at this aspect, you have a uniform deputy in a marked unit who's trained and armed, and if that individual or any individuals would do that to a law enforcement officer, what chance does any citizen in this community have when they come into contact and engages with somebody like that?" Wiles asked. "I really think the message it sends is that this community won't tolerate it. That you can't attack a police officer, you can't attack a deputy, and you can't attack a citizen because you're going to pay the price. And that's what happened. He (Chavez) is going to pay the price and rightfully so."

The Herrera family said in a statement that they hope the verdict and sentencing will help prevent any other family from having to suffer the loss of a loved one killed in the line of duty.

"He was doing his job in which he was proud to do every time he put on that badge to protect and to serve the community," Luis Herrera III, Herrera's older brother, said as he read a statement on behalf of his family. "I want the message to be loud and clear: El Pasoans will not tolerate these types of crimes and will not allow these types of criminals and murderers to be out on the streets. The citizens of this county want to live in peace and not in fear."

Trial is over, but appeals process begins

Herrera pulled over Chavez and his girlfriend, Arlene Piña, about 1:50 a.m. on March 22, 2019, in the 1000 block of Chicken Ranch Road, near Socorro Road in San Elizario. The traffic stop was due to two traffic violations: failing to dim high-beam headlights and improperly displaying a temporary license plate permit.

Herrera asked Chavez if he had any weapons, to which he answered no. The deputy then asked him to get out of the vehicle.

Chavez got out of the vehicle and immediately began shooting at Herrera. The deputy fell to the ground as Chavez continued firing. The gun then jammed.

He then started beating Herrera with the gun. As Herrera laid in a pool of his blood, Chavez and Piña attempted to flee in the vehicle, but it stalled. They then fled on foot.

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The couple was later found by U.S. Border Patrol agents hiding in a shed on the property of a nearby home.

A jury of nine women and three men convicted Chavez of capital murder of a peace officer Aug. 3 after less than 30 minutes of deliberations.

The same jury deliberated nearly 10 hours over two days before they reached a unanimous decision Wednesday to give Chavez the death penalty.

"The message that the jury ultimately sent is that if you harm and try to kill and brutally murder a sheriff's deputy, a law enforcement officer, a police officer, or a constable, any law enforcement officer in our community, justice is coming for you," Hicks said. "You will face justice. You will face the ultimate form of justice. Our office will make sure of that. We will devote the resources necessary. We will make sure that justice comes for you."

Louis Lopez, Chavez's attorney, thanked the jurors on Wednesday, Aug. 9, for their service even though they gave his client the death penalty.

"Obviously, we hoped that the jury would have chosen life and answer the (juror) instructions as we would hope they would," Lopez said. "But they did what we asked them to do. We asked them to be open-minded, to listen to all the evidence and then make their decisions accordingly. And they did that. I'm very proud of our El Paso community for coming and stepping forward. I think this is a very difficult task for the jury to come in and have to make this kind of decision on one of our community members.

"We felt like we had a really good mitigation case that we could present to the jury and that the jury would believe that his life was valuable and that he could contribute."

Now the process to appeal the guilty verdict and sentencing will begin for Chavez, Lopez said.

"It's really a difficult and long road," Lopez said. "The next steps will be the direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. At the same time, there will be his writ of habeas corpus where attorneys will start looking to see whether we, his defense attorneys, hadn't done anything we should have done or we should not have done, or if there were any mistakes."

Esther Herrera, the deputy's mother, said her suffering will continue, but she is grateful the community won't easily forget her son's sacrifice.

"My heart is always going to hurt, and that will never heal," Herrera said after all the court proceedings were concluded. "They say that we will reach a point where we will be satisfied with what happened, but that will never happen. My son will always be in our minds.

"We talk about him because he was a very dear person, very loved, not just by the family but also by the county of El Paso, where he patrolled. That has brought peace to me."

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Facundo Chavez death penalty: Victim impact statements