A Nestor man who was convicted of fatally stabbing an acquaintance in Chula Vista was sentenced June 20 to 15 years to life in prison and ordered to pay $2,760.50 for the victim’s funeral.
Hector Pablo Molina, 59, was sentenced by Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney for killing David Craig, 55, on June 3, 2013. Molina was given credits of already serving 382 days in jail.
Molina was convicted of second-degree murder March 6 by a jury which deliberated about 7 ½ hours over two days.
They acquitted him of first-degree murder.
A key witness saw the stabbing and scrawled Molina’s license plate numbers into dirt as Molina drove away. Craig was living in a van at Main Street and Seventh Avenue near a strawberry field in Chula Vista.
Craig’s blood was found on a knife in Molina’s truck and his shoes had blood that matched the victim’s DNA, said Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Golovato. The scrawled license plate number was checked by Chula Vista Police and the truck registered to Molina.
