“We felt, reviewing his record and his rehabilitation efforts in prison, and reviewing his petition, that the right thing to do was to ask the court to resentence him, and the court agreed with us,” San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan told NBC 7.
Riviera s sentence was reduced, with a San Diego judge in light of Riviera s age and health condition, and his low risk for re-offending ruling in favor of the request.
“I mean, residential burglaries are terrifying to the residents and we want to hold people accountable, but we feel in this case that, you know, serving 20, over 23 years in prison definitely was a price that was paid,” Stephan said. “It was accountability, but 100 years, like the judge agreed, was too harsh for the crime.”