Woman Convicted For Her Role in Murder of Teen in Newark in 2010

A Newark woman was convicted today of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit assault and gang enhancement clauses for her role in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Newark High School student and football star Justice Afoa in December 2010. Prosecutor Elgin Lowe said Daniela Guzman, 21, didn’t kill Afoa but her anger that a friend of Afoa broke up with her set off a chain of events that led to Afoa’s death.

“She kept insisting and kept the whole thing going,” Lowe said. Lowe said Afoa, who was a defensive lineman at Newark Memorial High School and made second team all-league in the Mission Valley Athletic League in the 2009 season, was fatally stabbed near the intersection of Cedar Boulevard and Birch Street in Newark at about 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2010, by Guzman’s brother, Rafael Tovar, 34, and Daniel Howard, who are both reputed gang members. Tovar was convicted last July of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and committing the crimes to benefit a criminal street gang.

On April 27 he was sentenced to 29 years to life in state prison. Howard, a 33-year-old trucker from Fremont, was convicted on May 31, 2013, of first-degree murder and committing the crime to benefit a gang as well as two counts of premeditated attempted murder for trying to kill his girlfriend and her unborn child in a separate incident in Fremont on Nov. 25, 2012.

He was sentenced to 70 years to life in state prison on June 27, 2013. Lowe said the event that sparked the chain of events that led to Afoa’s death was when Afoa beat up Tovar at Tovar’s home at about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2010. He said Tovar began a fight because he was upset that a friend of Afoa had broken up with Guzman, his sister. Tovar initially was fighting with the teen who had broken up with Guzman but Afoa got involved when he tried to break up the fight, Lowe said.

Six weeks later Afoa was assaulted at a house party at 36187 Cedar Blvd. in Newark on Oct. 30, and Guzman subsequently admitted she had set him up to be assaulted in retaliation for the beating of Tovar, Lowe said.

Guzman and Tovar initially were upset with the teen who had broken up with her but their focus later turned to Afoa because he had beaten up Tovar, according to Lowe. Guzman acted as a spotter for Tovar and Howard, telling the two reputed gang members where to find Afoa the day he was killed on Dec. 15, 2010, Lowe said.

According to a probable cause statement by Newark police Officer Dan Anderson, Tovar eventually admitted that he stabbed Afoa about five times and estimated that Howard also stabbed Afoa about five times. Guzman’s attorney, Ernie Castillo, couldn’t be reached for comment on the jury’s verdict, which it reached after two days of deliberations. Guzman faces 15 years to life in state prison when she’s sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson on Aug. 28.

By Bay City News

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