Merced County man sentenced for stabbing and for strangulation death inside jail
An Atwater man was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday after two violent attacks, including one that ended in a homicide, inside the Merced County Main Jail.
Angel Guzman, 26, was convicted March 3 of taking part in the stabbing of one inmate in June 2018 and then the strangling of another in the same month, according to Supervising Deputy District Attorney Matthew Serratto.
Guzman was sentenced to nine years for his role in the June 1, 2018, stabbing of an inmate who survived and life without parole for aiding in the choking death of Fabian Isaiah Cardoza, who was killed June 17, 2018, according to investigators.
Both attacks came out of “gang politics” among the men, who were all Sureno gang members, according to Serratto.
”I think the jury did the right thing. I think the judge did the right thing. (Guzman’s) an incredibly violent dangerous person who has no regard for life,” Serratto said. “There was video of (the strangling) and it was disgusting to watch. Afterward, he seemed happy about it.”
In the stabbing, Guzman and others used metal from a “shaved off stainless steel table” in his cell to stab the victim more than 50 times, Serratto said. The victim survived serious injuries.
The stabbing victim was also a Sureno gang member whose attack was ordered after he failed at a task assigned by higher-ranking members, investigators said.
According to jail records, the victim of strangulation, Cardoza, had been in custody since May 2, 2018, on a robbery charge. He had pleaded not guilty, according to court records.
Guzman and 29-year-old Santiago Martinez had made a plan to attack Cardoza in his cell, Serratto said. Guzman held him as Martinez used a rope made out of a bed sheet to choke Cardoza.
The men placed Cardoza back into a bunk and his body was not discovered for about 24 hours, investigators said.
Martinez was one of more than 50 suspected gang members charged with criminal conspiracy in connection with Operation Scrapbook, a large-scale wiretap case that targeted Sureno gang members operating under the Mexican Mafia.
Martinez’s trial is ongoing.
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Merced County man sentenced for stabbing and for strangulation death inside jail."
