|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Emotions were high inside a San Mateo County Superior Courtroom Tuesday, Jan. 30, when Jose “Rafa” Solano Landaeta was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison for the beheading of the mother of his child with a samurai sword in September of 2022.
Landaeta, 33, of Hayward, killed Karina Castro, 27, in front of her San Carlos apartment with a samurai sword in the street with witnesses walking by.
Judge Lisa Novak said that the sentence feels insufficient, albeit it’s the only sentence authorized by the state law.
Assistant District Attorney Sean Gallagher, San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, said the maximum and mandatory sentence to first-degree murder is 25 years to life with the possibility of parole, and it’s the state law that restricts the DA’s Office from asking for a more severe punishment.
“We think it is a horrifying crime that happened in the middle of the day, and we share the judge’s views that the sentence is woefully inadequate for the violence he perpetrated on the victim and the trauma her family has to live with merits more than somebody who deserves a chance for parole,” Gallagher said.
Novak said it was the most challenging trial she had ever presided over. She said that she wanted the community to understand that the crime wasn’t a byproduct of untreated mental illness.
“It is an affront to those who have a mental illness that suggests that somehow your culpability should be limited because you have a mental illness,” Novak said. “You are clever enough and manipulative enough to have utilized your mental illness to relieve yourself from the criminal liability; it was not successful.”
During the proceeding, Castro’s family and friends spoke about the tragedy’s impact on their lives. Castro’s grandmother, Danielle Gannon, said she was trembling with nerves as she powered through her heartfelt statement.
“I was the first to hold her (Karina Castro) when she was born. Our bond was instant,” Gannon said. “There is a hole in my heart, soul and life that will never be filled. The loss consumes me; what I take from this is, first, don’t ignore your gut feeling. The guilt I feel and deserve for not acting on my gut will stay with me forever.”
She said she believed that Castro lived and died protecting her daughters, who were inside Castro’s apartment the day she was brutally murdered. Gannon said that she believed Landaeta would have killed Castro’s two children, one of whom, Landaeta, is the father.
Prosecutor Josh Stauffer said Landaeta was previously convicted of domestic violence and that Castro had a restraining order on him to protect her from the violence he committed.
Leading up to the attack
Landaeta left his job feeling sick, went to his home in Hayward to retrieve his sword, and attacked Castro, who was around her car when he arrived. Landaeta beheaded
Castro walked away from the scene and placed the bloody sword in his car, which was parked two blocks away, according to the district attorney’s office. He was found guilty of first-degree murder after a two-week trial that ended in November.
Mya Castro said the death of her sister has weighed heavily on her and her family, specifically her children, and she struggles to find the right words to explain what happened to their aunt.
“We are not whole. We never will be again,” Mya Castro, Karina Castro’s sister, said during Tuesday’s proceedings.
After Tuesday’s hearing, Martin Castro, Karina and Mya Castro’s father shared a moment outside of the courtroom as he hugged Mya Castro as she held a picture of Karina Castro. Martin Castro cried in his daughter’s arms.
Stauffer said Landaeta was fearful that his prior conviction of sexually assaulting an unconscious 15-year-old girl would become public, so he killed Castro.
“The shame of that act caused the defendant so much concern and fear that it would become public,” Stauffer said.“It was one of the reasons that he brutally murdered Karina Castro because he was afraid she would release that information to the public.”
Stauffer said that Landaeta, on several occasions, tried to hide behind his mental illness as a shield to have his trial thrown out.
“He still takes no responsibility for his actions. In the probation report, he now seems to indicate that somebody else may have killed Karina Castro,” Stauffer said. “He has no remorse. He demonstrated no remorse.”
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
