Man sentenced to die for killing officer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A 26-year-old man was sentenced to death Monday for the fatal shooting of a Northern California police officer in 2006.

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Craig Parsons affirmed a jury's recommendation, sentencing Alberto Alvarez to die by lethal injection for killing East Palo Alto Officer Richard May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Alvarez was convicted in November of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of murdering a police officer.

Witnesses testified Alvarez shot May Jan. 7, 2006, after the officer responded to a fight at a taco shop. May tried to stop Alvarez nearby, the witnesses said, and Alvarez shot the officer three times, began running away, and then returned to shoot the fatal shot into his head.

Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney, said the killing of May, a 38-year-old father of three, was "one of the most evil crimes that can be committed," while Parsons called it "particularly savage and brutal." The judge denied Alvarez's motion for a new trial and request for a life sentence without parole.

Alvarez showed little emotion as he was sentenced to die, the Chronicle said, and neither he nor his attorneys spoke in court.

Diana May told a packed courtroom an "evil killer" took her husband's life.

"The man I expected to live the rest of my life with is gone forever," she said. "Our family meant everything to him. He was too young to die."