“I aligned myself with the anti-government movement and wanted to carry out violent acts against federal law enforcement officers in particular,” Carrillo said at the time.
At a February hearing, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she was not convinced that a 41-year sentence agreed to by prosecutors and defense lawyers was sufficient for Carrillo’s crimes — and warned she would reject the plea deal if she didn’t feel prosecutors and defense lawyers did enough to justify the sentence.
But on Friday, Gonzalez Rogers handed down the 41-year sentence, which also includes a lifetime of supervised release and a restitution amount to be determined at a later date, a court official said.
Tammy Evans, Underwood’s first cousin, was among several family members who spoke during Friday’s sentencing proceedings. She described him as like a brother to her.
“Carrillo is not worth my breath. But David Patrick Underwood is worth every breath I have,” she said. “Carrillo came like a thief in the night and just stole someone from our family who we loved and we cherished.”
Of Carrillo’s sentence, she said, “No amount of time will ever be sufficient for the pain we have. You chose to take him from us and sometimes I wish I knew why.”
Prosecutors said Carrillo, of Santa Cruz County, had ties to the boogaloo movement, embraced by a loose network of gun enthusiasts and militia-style extremists. Experts say the group started in alt-right culture on the internet with the belief that there is an impending U.S. civil war.
Prosecutors said Robert Alvin Justus Jr., of Millbrae, drove the van Carrillo fired from. He faces federal charges of murder and attempted murder in the case.
The pair is accused of driving to Oakland and taking advantage of the distraction afforded by people marching through the city’s downtown to protest George Floyd’s killing by a police officer in Minneapolis.
Carrillo was arrested the following week after he allegedly ambushed sheriff’s deputies in Ben Lomond who were responding to a report of a van containing firearms and bomb-making materials. Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, 38, was killed and several other law enforcement officials were wounded, according to authorities and court records.
Prosecutors in Santa Cruz charged Carrillo with a slew of felonies, including murder and attempted murder in connection to that killing.
Carrillo has pleaded not guilty to Gutzwiller’s killing.
KQED's Annelise Finney contributed reporting to this post.
