HOUSTON – The former Spring High School student who stabbed a classmate to death in school, received the maximum sentence for his guilty charge of manslaughter Friday afternoon.
Luis Alfaro, 18, was found was convicted of manslaughter after seven days of testimony for killing Joshua Broussard, 17, in September 2013.
"There are no winners in this case," said Milan Marinkovich, Alfaro's defense attorney. "The state didn't win, the defense didn't win, and certainly the families didn't win."
Prosecutors claim Alfaro belonged to a gang called Brown Pride that had been involved in a fight over a girl the day before. Alfaro and others were allegedly looking to even the score.
Eight witnesses all testified they saw Alfaro stab Broussard that fatal day in September of last year. But Alfaro's attorney says those witnesses have all changed their story.
The defense insisted police had the wrong man and that Alfaro couldn't have stabbed Broussard eight times in the four seconds the two were in the hallway together.
Earlier this week, jurors watched surveillance video giving a partial glimpse of the chaos that unfolded inside the school. In the lower right corner of the screen, you can see what appears to be blood splattered on the floor.
Each side claimed the video proved their case.
Jurors deliberated a total of six-and-a-half hours before reaching the guilty verdict. Prosecutors hoped Alfaro would be found guilty of murder, rather than the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Broussard's mother, Stephene Dickerson, believes anything less than life in prison isn't justice.
"I feel like the law needs to be stiffer, if you take a life in school, your life needs to be taken from you, you shouldn't be allowed to get out and have a family, do normal stuff, when you make grownup decisions, grownup decisions should be taken upon you," she said.
It only took the jury 15 minutes to reach a sentence. Alfaro was given the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
"I think they had their mind made up, once they decided on manslaughter," said prosecutor Kelli Johnson. "I think they knew that human life deserves the maximum."
But Maria Alverenga still defends her son's innocence.
"I know my son. You can see in the video, he is not stabbing Joshua, he doesn't have nothing in his hand," she said. "They are only together for four seconds, so how can he commit the stabbing in only four seconds?"
The Spring Independent School District issued the following statement after the verdict was handed down: "The death of Joshua Broussard was a tragedy for the entire Spring community. Our hearts are with all the students and their families who were impacted by the incident that occurred on Sept. 4, 2013. The district has worked with Spring High School and our community to promote healing and increase safety in the aftermath of the incident and will continue to do so as we move forward following the jury's decision today."