Murder Conviction In Deadly Off-Road Vehicle Party Under 60 Freeway

RIVERSIDE, CA — A 24-year-old man who stabbed two partygoers, one fatally, during an unprovoked attack in the Santa Ana River bottom was convicted Wednesday of murder and other offenses.

After two days of deliberations, a Riverside jury found Raul Sanchez of Rialto guilty for the slaying of 19-year-old Raul Saldana. Jurors also convicted Sanchez of attempted murder and assault resulting in great bodily injury for attacking 18-year-old Alejandro Saucedo at the same time in 2021.

The verdicts were reached Wednesday afternoon. The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 19 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Sanchez is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, the defendant and victims, both Riverside residents, were in the river bottom for an off-road vehicle party underneath a Pomona (60) Freeway overpass, with several hundred people gathered, some of them on all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes, in the predawn hours of Feb. 28, 2021.

During the event, a young man became embroiled in an argument with Sanchez's girlfriend, Italy Hernandez, prompting her to call on the defendant, who challenged the boy to a fistfight, which he declined, prosecutors said.

Sanchez's friend, identified only as "Tony," allegedly tried to bully the teenager into fighting the defendant, culminating in an intervention by Saucedo.

The brief said that initially Sanchez and Saucedo tussled, while Tony focused on Saldana as he mounted his dirt bike and tried to leave the location. Tony attempted to push the victim off his bike, but Saldana pushed back, at which point Sanchez attacked him.

The defendant pulled a knife and stabbed Saldana five times. The defendant then turned his attention back to Saucedo, stabbing him several times, mainly in the arm, according to the brief.

Sanchez then assisted Tony in stealing Saldana's dirt bike, pushing it to an unknown spot along the river bottom, according to the prosecution.

Multiple people went to Saldana's aid, including the wounded Saucedo, and they loaded him into a Jeep, whose driver transported both victims to Riverside Community Hospital. Saldana died in the emergency room within an hour. Saucedo underwent surgery and ultimately recovered from his wounds, court papers said.

Riverside police were unable to identify the assailant until a relative of Saldana posted a social media message the next day offering a reward for the return of the victim's dirt bike. Several people contacted the man, saying they were in the river bottom when the attack happened, leading to the identification of Sanchez as the perpetrator, prosecutors said.

The defendant was taken into custody without incident on March 25, 2021, in Rialto.

"Sanchez stated he had heard (Saldana) was a boxer and had heavy hands, so he believed he was justified in stabbing him," the brief said.

Sanchez proceeded to change his statement, telling detectives "alcohol made him stab the victim" and when he "gets mad, he blacks out," and is incapable of controlling himself, according to the narrative.

The defendant's friend, Tony, has never been positively identified.

Sanchez had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.