A Newhall man pleaded no contest to allegations he was one of three suspects in the shooting of a Los Angeles Police Department officer at his Valencia home after an alcohol-fueled prom party.
Judge Kevin Rosenberg is expected to sentence Anthony Alexis Sandoval, 26, to a total of three years in state prison at a hearing next week, according to the July 9 minute order for Department E at L.A. County Superior Court in San Fernando.
Sandoval admitted to being one of three people who came back to a man’s house after he cleared the April 2024 prom after party with a shotgun. Following a brief confrontation with three of the partygoers on his driveway, the officer was shot in the leg and the suspects fled, according to witnesses.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Sandoval is expected to receive the low term for an assault with a deadly weapon charge, according to Rosenberg, who also intends to give Sandoval a two-year concurrent sentence for a separate charge of taking a vehicle without an owner’s consent.
Sandoval is also to receive a two-year sentence for a December 2023 arrest on suspicion of receiving stolen goods, which is to run concurrent with his other sentences.
Anthony Alexis Sandoval’s younger brother, Hector Sandoval, 21, whom prosecutors fingered as the shooter at the April 2024 house party, also is a codefendant in the 2023 case. Hector Sandoval has not taken a plea deal in either case, according to court records.
The prosecutor handling the case, Shareen Nizami, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on the sentencing.
The plea deal also gives Anthony Alexis Sandoval a violent strike on his record, according to Rosenerg in the minute order, which can be used against him in a future case.
“I want to make sure that you understand that, depending on the number of strikes you had, if you subsequently get a new conviction, you could be facing a doubling of the sentence for up to a term of 25 years to life, depending on the circumstance,” Rosenberg said, according to the record. “I want to make sure you understand all that.”
Anthony Alexis Sandoval said that he did. His attorney then asked the court to acknowledge his sentence as an “aider and abettor,” not the shooter.
The defendant also was ordered to pay restitution, but the amount is expected to be determined at a later date. His actual sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 18.
Court testimony
During the preliminary hearing, the officer, who was not charged and was treated as a victim in the investigation by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, said he was in fear for his life when he grabbed the shotgun.
Defense attorneys for the Sandovals sought to paint the officer as a criminal-threat suspect on the stand for how he cleared the party with his shotgun.
In the weeks following the shooting, footage emerged on social media showing the officer wielding a shotgun outside his house while trying to evacuate his home, and deputies walking through a backyard littered with alcohol containers.
The victim testified that threats were made and a firearm was brandished at the party, which was why he grabbed a shotgun to help send everyone home.
Prosecutors alleged that three suspects, including Hector Sandoval, and an 18-year-old whose name is being withheld because he was a minor at the time, stole a truck and came back armed to confront the homeowner, which precipitated the violence. The officer was left with a shattered femur from the wound.
The teen pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 90 days of electronic surveillance at home, and a program known as Home on Probation, an L.A. County Probation Department program that returns juveniles to their parents with a curfew and court-ordered stipulations.
Hector Sandoval also is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, criminal conspiracy and two counts of taking a vehicle without an owner’s consent.
