On November 21, 2020, Erika Pascual and her husband, Mario Martinez, were horrifically attacked. It was nighttime; the couple was watching a movie with their three children when Guadalupe Albarran, Mario’s brother, decided to take a knife and attempt to murder Erika and Mario. In minutes, the family’s entire life changed completely as the parents were stabbed and the children were left traumatized for life. Guadalupe Albarran, fully aware of his actions, stabbed Mario multiple times in the head and chest, puncturing his lung. He also stabbed Erika in her C1-C2 vertebrae, leaving her quadriplegic for life.
Guadalupe Albarran committed this crime without any apparent motive. He chose to use heavy drugs despite having familial support, and he joined a gang despite living in a safe neighborhood. Guadalupe Albarran is a menace to society; he causes pain and destruction wherever he goes and should not be sentenced to only four years.
Four years is not enough for a lifetime of pain and disability that Erika must endure every day. It is not enough for the trauma experienced by the children, who live in constant fear that it could be their mother’s last day due to her disability. Erika endured hundreds of hours of rehabilitation to barely walk again, spent a year using a tracheostomy tube to breathe, which took away her ability to speak and was reliant on a feeding tube for several months. Imagine seeing your mother like this after years of seeing her dancing and cooking.
It is an injustice to the residents of California and the Martinez family to allow this monster to roam the streets after only four years as if nothing happened. Currently, the family is trying to heal, but Guadalupe Albarran attempts to contact the children from prison, completely disregarding the emotional damage he has caused after trying to take their parents' lives and years of verbal abuse. This situation mirrors what happened earlier when Albarran was released from prison in early 2020 after being convicted of choking Erika, only to commit this horrific crime shortly after.
This man does not take responsibility and will continue to commit heinous crimes as long as the Los Angeles district attorney enables him with plea deals.
We are calling for Guadalupe Albarran to be denied early release by the Board of Parole Hearings. With your signature, the family can feel reassured that they will be safe for at least two more years. Any person with rational judgment would agree that Guadalupe Albarran should not be released this year, while Erika is still heavily affected by her disability and her children remain in therapy. There has not been enough time for him to be rehabilitated, and the Los Angeles criminal justice system is neglecting the victims and compromising their safety by releasing him.