Atwater correctional officer’s killer sentenced to life in prison

The man convicted of killing correctional Officer Jose Rivera in 2008 at the federal prison in Atwater was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of release, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner reported.

Joseph Cabrera Sablan, 47, was determined to have used a makeshift knife to stab Rivera 22 times while the officer was held down by co-defendant James Ninete Leon Guerreo. Rivera, 22 at the time of his death, was a Navy veteran who had served in the Iraq War.

Cabrera Sablan pleaded guilty in a deal on July 22, avoiding the death penalty. Leon Guerrero also was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release in May 2014. Both men already were serving life sentences at the time of the murder.

Violence, weapons and prison-made alcohol reportedly proliferated at the Atwater prison at the time of Rivera’s slaying and was acknowledged at the time of the inmates’ indictment by a federal judge.

The trial for Cabrera Sablan originally was scheduled to take place in Fresno’s federal courthouse, but was moved to the Los Angeles area in December 2014 in order to find a fair jury panel.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Atwater correctional officer’s killer sentenced to life in prison."