Valdez sentenced to 20 years in prison

On Monday, Judge Steven Warning sentenced Sam Valdez to 20 years and 10 months in prison without parole. On February 25, a jury found Valdez guilty on four counts: solicitation to commit murder in the first degree, delivery of marijuana, possession with intent to manufacture or deliver marijuana, and arson in the first degree.

“As I listened to the testimony, as I listened to the tapes, what struck me was its juvenile quality,” Warning said regarding the solicitation to commit the murder of Valdez’ ex-wife. “This is a situation where you didn’t get convicted based on what [the informant] said, you were convicted based on what you said.”

“You decided to set fire to a house in which there were two elderly people, one blind,” Warning continued. “As far as you were concerned it was perfectly okay to burn them out or burn them up.”

“The two drug counts…” Warning said, “make it very clear that Mr. Valdez has no particular interest in what is or isn’t illegal.”

Sue Baur, who prosecuted Valdez, shared her thoughts about the case and the man.

“I have never been able to not figure somebody out,” she said. “Through his statement on the stand, through his statements from his lawyer, it’s clear that he is at least two different people.”

Valdez responded.

“I listened to Ms. Baur pretty much tear me apart,” Valdez said. “It’s torn my heart up, to be honest with you. I’ve lived a life to helping others. I’ve opened my home to alcoholics. I’ve opened my home to homeless. I’ve rendered help to many a stranded motorist. I carry that spirit through my neighborhood and we have people here that can bear witness to that.”

He spoke about the oil and the equipment he purchased to manufacture the oil. He called the informant a con and denied burning his neighbor’s home down.

“This is a nightmare of nightmares,” Valdez said. “There is no describing it. It seems fruitless for me to try to say anything to this avalanche of mischaracterization, assassinations. My heart is broken.”

His neighbor, Cathy Cantrell, is seeking restitution for the loss of her property in the fire. She asked the judge for the maximum sentence.

“My home, my property, my possessions and former life as I knew it were destroyed by Sam Valdez,” she said. “The night he set fire to my house and tried to kill us changed everything. Since that night I have lived in fear of him returning to finish us off. I have suffered from a type of shell shock that can cause sudden panic and uncontrollable fear of being burned alive. I have been afraid to allow my grandchildren to visit me lest they fall victim to his callous and destructive acts and I have feared that my blind husband would have no defense. I pray that he will not be given a light sentence for his actions against us.”

Cantrell then shared some of her husband's words. Her husband Fred is blind.

“Being awakened by explosions, I ran down the hallway,” Fred Cantrall had written, “crashing into walls and objects in my terror in order to save Cathy. It was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to get us out alive.”

He too asked the court to give the maximum sentence.

“The peace and safety of our entire community depends on this,” the letter read.

The lawyer for Valdez, Wayne Fricke, acknowledged that his client’s appeal had already been started.