A 74-year-old man who pleaded guilty to killing another man in Logan Heights nearly 50 years ago was sentenced Tuesday to up to 15 years in state prison.
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Mitchell Hernandez pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to the killing of Leo Marquina, who was found on Nov. 10, 1976, with two stab wounds to the chest in his Harrison Avenue home.
A prosecution sentencing brief states that neighbors and a co-worker became concerned after not hearing from Marquina and went to the victim’s home, which was “ransacked,” and discovered his body.
The case went cold, but through a renewed investigation conducted by police in 2023, Hernandez was connected to the crime through fingerprints and DNA. A palm print on the victim’s refrigerator was matched to Hernandez, and DNA found in fingernail scrapings beneath Marquina’s left hand were also linked to him, the brief states.
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Hernandez was residing in Chula Vista when he was arrested last year.
He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced Tuesday to the term that manslaughter carried in 1976, which was a state prison term not to exceed 15 years.
Shortly after 1976, sentencing laws in California changed, converting indeterminate sentences — such as the one Hernandez was sentenced to — to determinate sentences, which involve a fixed amount of prison time.
Due to those law changes, Hernandez’s sentence will be recalculated by the California Board of Parole Hearings, with an expectation that the board will decide he should serve a determinate term of five years in state prison. Hernandez’s change of plea forms also included a stipulation to a five-year prison term.
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