Woman sentenced to 5 to 10 years for murder

THE FOURTH AND final defendant in a horrific murder of a North Philly bodega cashier, who was killed because she allegedly witnessed an earlier homicide, was sentenced yesterday.

Eliana Vazquez, 22, was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner to five to 10 years in state prison for the Jan. 23, 2012, shooting death of Reyna Aguirre-Alonso, 31, inside the Caribe Mini Market, at Mutter and Westmoreland streets.

Vazquez was not the mastermind behind the plan to kill Aguirre-Alonso, nor was she the person who shot her.

In sentencing Vazquez, Lerner said he took into account "the sheer brutality, savagery" of the murder. But he also said he was showing leniency because Vazquez began cooperating with the prosecution early on.

Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega said Vazquez testified at the 2012 preliminary hearing of her co-defendants and "has always been cooperative."

Vazquez, at the time of Aguirre-Alonso's slaying, was the girlfriend of co-defendant Jorge Aldea, the mastermind behind Aguirre-Alonso's murder and the man who committed the earlier homicide - the Nov. 25, 2011, fatal shooting of Luis Chevere, 22, outside the Caribe Mini Market.

Aguirre-Alonso, who came to Philly from Mexico, worked at the bodega and lived above it.

As part of Aldea's plan, Vazquez went to the homicide division to send police on a false trail by giving them misinformation and to learn who potential witnesses were in Chevere's murder. She then helped plan the shooting of Aguirre-Alonso.

Vazquez's attorney, Paul DiMaio, called Aguirre-Alonso's killing "senseless, horrible, tragic," but noted that Vazquez was 19 at the time and was under Aldea's influence. She was "a battered girlfriend, both mentally and physically" when she was "involved with this monster," DiMaio said.

As DiMaio spoke, Vazquez wiped away tears.

Vazquez apologized for her actions to the victim's sister, who was in court. "I live with pain and guilt for what I have done. I hope one day you will forgive me."

The victim's sister, Alma Aguirre, tearfully told the judge: "I don't understand why four people were so vicious against [my sister] when my sister just came here to work." Her sister's body was returned to Mexico to be buried by their mother.

Lerner's sentence was in the mitigated guideline range, as asked for by DiMaio. After Vazquez's prison sentence, she is to serve three years of state-supervised reporting probation.

Vazquez pleaded guilty in 2013 to third-degree murder, conspiracy and witness intimidation.

Her cooperation with prosecutors was key to her co-defendants' pleading guilty in the case.

Aldea, now 25, pleaded guilty in April to first-degree murder and related offenses in both slayings and is serving two consecutive sentences of life in prison.

Shawn Poindexter, 21, the person who was recruited to shoot Aguirre-Alonso and who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree murder and related offenses and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Raymond Soto, 23, who procured the gun used in the killing, pleaded guilty last year to third-degree murder and related offenses and was sentenced in May to 35 to 70 years in state prison.