A fourth defendant involved in a fatal December 2016 carjacking has been sentenced to a term in state prison.

This morning Judge Christopher Wilson sentenced Cesar Octavio Valenzuela to 13 years for his role in the carjacking that ended with 20-year-old Tyson Eduardo Claros shot five times and left bleeding to death on state Highway 255 near Manila.

Valenzuela.

Valenzuela, 27, was the last of five defendants to admit his guilt, pleading to carjacking and a weapons allegation in exchange for the 13-year term.

For Claros’s parents, the sentence was another disappointment and another victory for the defense.

“We never wanted to give Cesar a plea deal,” said Claros’s stepmother Cami Claros, reading from a letter she and Claros’s father, Eddie Claros, wrote to the judge. “Cesar secured the gun … Cesar wasn’t just along for the ride. He knew something was going to happen when they all took guns.”

Claros and his friend “Jane Doe” were giving Tamara Nicole Thomson a ride from Eureka to McKinleyville when Thomson, then 18, pulled a gun and demanded they pull over. As soon as they did, another car pulled up. Out of that car jumped Valenzuela, Brandon James Mitchell, Catherine Fode and Hector Godoy-Standley. Mitchell shot Claros five times before the five fled the scene, with Valenzuela and his then-girlfriend Thomson taking Jane Doe’s car. Fode was the only one not seen with a gun.

Judge Wilson, who has spent a total of 22 years as a defense attorney and then a judge, said this crime “has cut the widest swath of destruction on a group of young people that I think I have ever seen … there are a number of young lives that are forever altered.”

Claros’s family members have expressed their frustration with the criminal justice system, not only today but when Mitchell, Thomson and Godoy-Standley were sentenced back in May. Mitchell received 27 years, Thomson 14 years and Godoy-Standley four years.

Cami Claros said she believed the punishment would have been more severe if the defendants had gone to trial instead of making plea bargains. But Wilson said this morning he believed the District Attorney’s Office “negotiated this in good faith, given the changes in the law.”

Changes in California’s Felony Murder Rule made it much more difficult to convict defendants for murder when they didn’t commit the actual killing.

Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Schaffer, the prosecutor in the case, said she understands the family’s feelings, when “their sentence is a life sentence without their loved one … I sympathize.”

Neither Valenzuela nor his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Casey Russo, made a statement this morning.

Valenzuela was given credit for 1,378 days served, plus 206 days — 15 percent — for “good time.” He waived his right to appeal.

The only defendant who hasn’t been sentenced is Fode, who was 18 when Claros was killed. She is now 22. Fode was the first to admit her guilt, pleading to voluntary manslaughter about a year into the case. She agreed to testify against the others at trial, but there were no trials. Fode is scheduled for sentencing next month.

The motive for the crime was Fode and Mitchell’s belief that Claros molested their then 3-year-old daughter. That allegation was investigated but never charged or proven. Thomson, speaking to sheriff’s investigators after her arrest, said her understanding was that Claros was going to “get a whipping,” not be shot dead.

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