A Greeley man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday for shooting and killing 21-year-old Herminia Marquez in November 2022.
Less than two hours later, Weld District Judge Anita Crowther sentenced Amos Alaniz, 24, to life in prison without parole — the only sentence Colorado law offers for the crime.
“There’s nothing I can say or any sentence I can impose that can take away the pain or the loss,” Crowther said to Marquez’s family. “I hope this can be the first step in starting to get closure.”
After deliberating for just an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon, the jury returned the verdict first thing Wednesday morning. Alaniz was also convicted of accessory to murder, as former co-defendant Mary Garcia was also convicted of first-degree homicide in relation to Marquez’s death in July.
Just before handing down Alaniz’s sentence, Crowther said that after seeing all the evidence presented over the past week-plus, she could only describe the killing as senseless.
Alaniz shot and killed Marquez — known to friends and family as Minnie — in the early morning of Nov. 28, 2022. The day that forever changed her family’s lives.
“That day didn’t just mark her death, but also the death of the man I once was.” Marquez’s father wrote in a letter read to the court Wednesday. “A light went out in our home and it has never been the same since.”
Alaniz let Marquez and his sister, Anahi, borrow a vehicle the night prior. The vehicle, an Audi, had been reported stolen as a rental that hadn’t been returned.
Paranoid and angry that they hadn’t yet brought the Audi back, Alaniz and Garcia went out searching for the two in Garcia’s Suburban.
After finding Marquez and his sister, Alaniz fired nearly 20 rounds at the vehicle as they fled through east Greeley toward a friend of Marquez’s house in the 1100 block of East 24th Street Lane.
When they arrived, Marquez got out of the car and ran toward the house. Alaniz exited the passenger side of the Suburban, followed Marquez toward the house and fired the fatal shot.
“Her life was stolen from her by people she considered friends,” Marquez’s brother said. “She trusted them, and they betrayed her in the worst way possible.”
Several members of Marquez’s family spoke at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, describing her as a young woman whose love for others was imminent in everything she did. She was funny, quick-witted and stubborn, and she had a passion for music. And at 21, she had her life taken from her before she ever got to spread her wings.
“We’ll never see her grow as a person,” her mother said. “Never see her face light up with enjoyment. Never see her smile again. We’ll never get to see her with her children.”
Wednesday marked 863 days since Marquez was killed. For her family and friends, that’s meant more than two years of sleepless nights, what-ifs and wondering why.
“Eight hundred sixty-three days since our lives changed forever,” her brother said. “Eight hundred sixty-three days of silence where laughter should be. Eight hundred sixty-three days of waking up and remembering she’s not here.”
No matter how many days have gone by, it hasn’t lessened the pain of the loss for those closest to her.
“Time hasn’t dulled the ache,” her father said. “If anything, it has sharpened it. Our family will never be whole again. Nothing can bring her back.”
Despite how tragic her death was, her family hopes people remember her for her life. They hope people remember the woman she was and the woman she never got the chance to grow into.
“My heart will never heal,” her mother said. “But I hope through this process, she will be remembered for the person she could have been, not just the way her life was taken away.”
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