Castroville Man Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole for Murder of Fellow Prison Inmate at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad

 

SALINAS, California- Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced on October 23

that Salinas Valley State Prison inmate 32-year Alberto Cortez was sentenced to serve a term of life

in prison, without the possibility of parole, after being convicted of First-Degree Murder with the

special circumstance of Multiple Murder, based upon a prior conviction. Cortez was also

convicted of Assault by a Life Prisoner with a Deadly Weapon. He was also convicted of

personally using a deadly or dangerous weapon to commit the crime. The Honorable Judge

Stephanie Hulsey presided over this trial.

Cortez also admitted that he had previously been convicted of 6 “strikes” under California’s

Three Strikes Law, including a prior conviction for Murder.

On the morning of January 12, 2018, correctional officers observed blood smeared on the

window and leaking out beneath the door of the cell of the victim in this case, 19-year-old Jose

Alcantar-Ortega. When correctional officers reached the cell, they observed Alcantar-Ortega

lying motionless on the floor in a pool of blood, and inmates Cortez and Romero standing in the

back of his locked cell. Two inmate-manufactured weapons were discovered flushed down the

cell’s toilet. While Alcantar-Ortega had over 70 stab wounds to his body, most of them to his

back, head and neck area, inmates Cortez and Romero did not have any injuries and their hands

and clothes were covered in the victim’s blood.

Alcantar-Ortega was still alive when correctional officers removed him from his cell and life-

saving measures were taken by prison medical staff, paramedics and medical staff at Natividad

Medical Center. However, three days later, Alcantar-Ortega succumbed to his injuries.

Alberto Cortez was serving a 50 year to life sentence for the 2011 murder of Jose Calderon

Cisneros in Castroville. Cisneros was walking home when he was shot by Cortez more than a

dozen times. Cortez was also convicted of criminal gang activity for that murder. Cortez was

also serving a sentence for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and criminal gang

activity, based upon leading his fellow gang members in an assault on jail deputies while

awaiting trial on the Castroville murder.

This case was investigated by the Investigative Services Unit of Salinas Valley State Prison as

well as Monterey County District Attorney Investigator Erik Morris and retired District Attorney

Investigator Jackie Meroney.