San Diego resident Miguel Anthony Rendon was just 18 years old when he was abducted, tortured and killed in May 2020 by a group of young men in Tijuana. The gunman who shot him five times in the head and left his body in a trash-filled ravine was also 18 and still attending a Tijuana high school. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Hayes sentenced the convicted killer, Brian Alexis Patron Lopez, to life in federal prison, telling Patron that he ruined his own life when he took Rendon’s. “You executed him … It was cold-blooded,” Hayes said. “I think you had no idea what you were doing to yourself that day.” Rendon’s mother told Patron, now 24, that a lifetime in custody — there is no parole in the federal justice system — will give him a taste of her suffering. “As this man is sentenced to life today, I want him to understand that we are living a life sentence, too,” the mother said during a victim impact statement. “I want this man to carry the weight of what he did for the rest of his life.” A San Diego federal jury convicted Patron in March on charges of intentional killing while engaged in drug trafficking, hostage taking resulting in death and conspiracy to take hostages resulting in death. The two hostage-taking charges both carried mandatory minimum sentences of life in prison. Defense attorney Meghan Blanco argued that a life sentence for a defendant who was just 18 at the time and had no prior criminal record would violate Patron’s Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Mario Peia said the statute was “black and white” and that Patron must be sentenced to nothing less than life in prison. Hayes agreed with the government and imposed life sentences for the two hostage-related charges and a 35-year sentence on the drug-trafficking count. “You literally walked the victim to his death,” Hayes told Patron, saying he couldn’t imagine the fear Rendon must have felt in his final moments. “He knew he was going to die alone, left with the trash on that hill.” Blanco told the judge that Patron plans to appeal the sentence to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The events that led to Rendon’s slaying began when he was arrested May 27, 2020, while allegedly trying to smuggle less than a half-pound of methamphetamine into the U.S. through a pedestrian crossing lane from Tijuana to San Diego, according to prosecutors. He was quickly released from custody and received a notice to appear in court at a future date. The next day, he allegedly made an agreement with a drug trafficker to smuggle more than 2 pounds of methamphetamine across the border, but he allegedly stole those drugs soon after picking them up, according to prosecutors. He then used a doctored version of the court notice to try to convince the trafficker that U.S. authorities had seized the larger amount of drugs. The trafficker and his associates never believed the ruse and abducted Rendon late that night from a motel south of downtown Tijuana, according to prosecutors. Surveillance footage from the motel allegedly showed Patron and others dragging Rendon from a garage beneath his room, beating him up and then forcing him into a BMW. From there they took him to an empty field where they continued to beat him, then a nearby house and later to a second motel. Both at the house and at the second motel, Patron and the other defendants contacted Rendon’s mother and stepfather, demanding money or drugs in exchange for his release, prosecutors said. The family was in the process of gathering the money when the kidnappers cut off contact. Prosecutors alleged at trial that Patron was eventually handed a revolver and told “to do what (he) had to do.” He and others allegedly took Rendon to a nearby ravine where Patron shot and killed the San Diego teen. Prosecutors have said that although Patron had no stake in the stolen drugs, he took a leading role in the abduction, torture and killing in order to “up his status in the drug trafficking organization.” Patron and his attorney have maintained that he was not the shooter, arguing his co-defendants pinned responsibility on him because they were arrested first and began cooperating before Patron was taken into custody. The judge disagreed. “My conclusion after sitting through the trial … is (Patron) was the executioner,” Hayes said. The judge previously sentenced co-defendants Alan Lomeli Luna to 11 years and eight months in prison; Jonathan Emmanuel Montellano Mora to 10 years and five months; Wyatt Valencia Pacheco to nine years and two months; and Luis Armando Dorantes Rivera Jr. to five years in prison. Valencia, Montellano and Dorantes had each pleaded guilty to a charge of hostage-taking, while Dorantes also pleaded guilty to a kidnapping conspiracy charge. Lomeli pleaded guilty to a charge of intentional killing while engaged in drug trafficking, with prosecutors arguing that he acted as a lookout at the top of the ravine while Patron shot Rendon. Patron had sought a new trial earlier this year after a juror reported receiving a text message that she thought might be related to the case. Prosecutors argued the text was likely a spam message, and Hayes denied Patron’s motion, ruling the text had no influence on the verdict. As Wednesday’s hearing ended and U.S. Marshals began taking Patron away to serve the remainder of his life in prison, Hayes told Patron, “I hope you find some purpose in life.” The judge finished: “I hope you find mental peace, though given what you did, I think that may take longer than you think it will.” ...read more read less