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Rico Sena sentenced to 10 years in stabbing

link Staff photo: Tony Bullocks

Rico Sena is led away by Curry County deputies after being sentenced on Tuesday for voluntary manslaughter by District Judge Stephen Quinn.

Staff writer

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Veronica Menzie described her baby brother Devin Saiz as a comedy character from the movie “Shrek.”

“… The effervescent, lively and comical donkey,” Menzie said. “There was never a moment in which Devin wasn’t making someone smile or laugh.”

On March 30, 2013, Rico Sena stabbed and killed Devin Saiz at a party. Jurors found Sena guilty of third-degree voluntary manslaughter on April 29.

“I wonder if it wasn’t just one smile Rico had taken, or the smiles of everyone who loved my brother …” Menzie said.

Judge Stephen Quinn presided over Sena’s sentencing hearing Tuesday, imposing a six-year sentence, enhanced by four years more for being a habitual felonious offender. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, District Attorney Andrea Reeb said.

Sena will receive a pre-sentence confinement credit of 620 days.

“Mr. Sena is a man of violence and he is a man who refuses to accept and abide by the rules that we as a society must live under,” Prosecutor Brian Stover told the court.

Dan Blair, an investigator with the district attorney’s office, described his experience arresting Sena as evidence of the defendant’s disrespect for the law. Blair said when he went to arrest Sena, the defendant presented confrontational body language and refused to lie down until someone else intervened.

After telling the court about her brother, Menzie had a request.

“For a moment we should reflect on the record of Rico Sena,” Menzie said. “We can see how he has never learned to be a contributing member of society, and he never will. … Today we stand here with the hope this criminal, Rico Sena, (will) be punished to the full extent of the law.”

Gary Mitchell, who represented Sena, 27, argued, “With Rico it’s always been in defense of his family.”

Mitchell said Sena’s reaction to his arrest came from a life of experiences in which the police were never there to help him. He also argued Sena’s prior felony convictions for arson and escape from jail were non-violent.

Sena delivered a statement with a quiet, sometimes trembling voice.

“I didn’t know Devin; I don’t know Devin today,” he said. “It was a tragic incident. … I suffer every possible heartache you could possibly imagine. ... I trust that I did what was right.

“I know what they lost. I’ve lost as well. No one wins. We don’t win,” Sena said. “But I’m content I did what’s right. And I know it in my heart.”

Stover had one word for Sena’s statement: rationalization.

“Stop the rationalization,” Stover said. “There is one person who is responsible for these actions, he sits over here. His name is Rico Sena.”

After Stover asked the court for accountability, Judge Quinn delivered his verdict.

“What should have been a social gathering ended in tragedy and horror. These violent confrontations impact the freedom of all of us…,” Quinn said.

“The court finds that Mr. Sena’s record justifies imposing the maximum sentence.”

Menzie said 17-year-old Saiz, the father of two young children, “…had the world at his fingertips.”

“His life, in short, was taken abruptly and far too soon,” Menzie said.

 
 
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