A Lancaster city man was sentenced to 10 years and seven months to 23 years and five months in prison Friday in Lancaster County Court.
Israel Sanabria Jr., 43 of the 600 block of Lehigh Street, was sentenced by Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey Conrad after a jury found him guilty of aggravated assault and false identification to law enforcement following a trial in November.
Sanabria pleaded guilty to four additional dockets during the proceeding which included charges of driving under the influence, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, driving under license suspension, possession of a controlled substance stemming from conduct ranging from 2019 to 2022.
Assistant District Attorney CJ Restemayer prosecuted the case and asked for an aggravated range sentence on the aggravated assault and that the sentences on the guilty pleas run consecutively.
ADA Restemayer pointed out that evidence during trial showed the defendant calling the victim over 3,000 times from prison even though there was a bail condition preventing him from doing so. Restemayer also noted the medical experts and domestic violence expert who testified at trial, the pictures of the extensive injuries to the victim, and the video of the defendant assaulting the victim. Restemayer read parts of the victim’s statement aloud, which recounted the abuse the victim suffered at the hands of the defendant.
Sanabria spoke for nearly 30 minutes when given the opportunity by Judge Conrad and stated he did not get adequate representation from his trial attorney and that he should not have been convicted of aggravated assault. Sanabria was appointed new counsel different from his representation at trial and, against the advice of this new counsel, took the time to speak at length during his sentencing proceeding about the victim.
Judge Conrad responded that defense counsel did “a superb job” representing him and the conduct he displayed on video presented during trial was what the defendant should have been worried about. Judge Conrad mentioned the defendant’s history of violence toward women, his repeated violent conduct toward the victim, and the defendant’s lack of remorse for the injuries he caused the victim. Judge Conrad also gave the defendant the same “5,4,3,2,1” countdown before ordering sentence that the defendant gave the victim before assaulting her several times.
“Had you listened to counsel, you would’ve done better,” Judge Conrad said before agreeing with the prosecution and fashioning a top of the guidelines, consecutive sentence. “Once again you threw [the victim] under the bus.”
MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.