Inset: Raul Alexander Cuevas (Ada County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The gas station where Cuevas killed the prime suspect in his mother’s murder (KTVB).
A jury in Idaho on Tuesday shocked a judge with nearly 30 years of experience in the criminal justice system when, after convicting a 32-year-old man, they attached a note to the verdict requesting the judge be lenient when sentencing the convicted killer.
The rare moment came about two months after the same jurors found Raul A. Cuevas guilty on one count of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing 39-year-old Jesus R. Urrutia, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Urrutia was the prime suspect in the slaying of Cuevas’ 52-year-old mother, Michelle Luna. Authorities said Urrutia — who lived with Luna and Cuevas — called Cuevas several times after the murder to taunt and torment him about killing his mother and even told the victim’s son his location.
“I’ve never seen a jury tell the trial judge that they do believe the defendant committed the crime, but they would like the trial judge to be — as I read it — understanding,” Fourth District Judge Jonathan Medema said in court, according to a report from the Idaho Statesman.
Cuevas’ defense attorney reportedly argued that the murder of his client’s mother was the only reason Urrutia was dead.
“Had Jesus not stabbed Michelle to death in Nampa, we wouldn’t be here,” defense attorney Alexander Briggs reportedly said.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued that despite justifiable ire, Cuevas had no right to exact vigilante justice on the man he believed stabbed his mother. The state requested a sentence of 45 years in prison.
“His anger, his sadness, his rage is justifiable, but the planned murder of a person is not,” Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Holly Koole reportedly told the court. “This is not a heat of passion case. He opened a car door and stabbed a man in the heart.”
Medema reportedly told the court that he considered the anger and agony the bereaving Cuevas was going through when he made the decision to murder Urrutia while also castigating Cuevas for taking the law into his own hands.
“You made a very selfish decision — in an instant — to take his life,” Medema reportedly said, speaking directly to Cuevas.
But the jury’s note apparently accomplished what the 12 men and women intended. Though Cuevas was facing a maximum possible sentence of life without the possibility for parole, Medema ordered him to serve a sentence of 10 years in a state correctional facility with the possibility for parole after only four years.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, police and emergency medical services at around 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, responded to a 911 call regarding the reported stabbing of an adult female — later identified as Luna — at a residence located in the 2100 block of W. Grouse Street.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders say they located the victim inside the home who appeared to have sustained “several stab wounds to her body.” Medics attempted lifesaving measures on the victim, but she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead on the scene.
Urrutia was quickly identified as the primary suspect in Luna’s murder.
However, Nampa PD at approximately 7:03 a.m. responded to a call from a dispatcher at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office regarding another stabbing victim — this time an adult male — believed to be Urrutia
Officers arrived at the crime scene — the parking lot of an Avimor gas station located more than 25 miles away from Nampa — and found Urrutia inside a vehicle in the lot.
Police say Urrutia was “slumped over in the car, which was running but in park.” First responders removed Urrutia from the vehicle and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Medics transported Urrutia to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wound and was pronounced dead about an hour later.
The Ada County Coroner’s Office determined that Urrutia’s death was a homicide caused by a “sharp force injury wound to the chest,” authorities said.
Later that day, ACSO deputies located Cuevas — the prime suspect in Urrutia’s death — at an Exxon gas station a few miles south of where Urrutia was stabbed. Cuevas had used the gas station phone to turn himself over to authorities. Deputies collected evidence from Cuevas and his car before placing him under arrest and transporting him to the Ada County Jail.
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