Man Gets 36 Years To Life For Killing Teen Who Threw Rocks From Overpass

REDWOOD CITY, CA – A man who fatally stabbed a teenage boy in Redwood City in 2009 and has been convicted for it twice was sentenced today to 36 years-to-life in prison in San Mateo County Superior Court, according to prosecutors.

"Effectively, the court maxed him," District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. "That is the maximum sentence."

Luis Adolfo Villa, 26, was visiting from Lathrop on January 3, 2009, when 16-year-old Matthew Johnson and two teenage friends threw rocks from an overpass at Jefferson Avenue, striking a vehicle in which Villa was traveling.

Villa and his associates chased the boys down a street where Villa fatally met Johnson.

Villa was himself a minor at that time. He fled to Mexico, but was apprehended and expedited back to San Mateo County in 2010. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 2012 and sentenced to 36 years-to-life in prison, but that conviction was overturned on appeal in 2015.

Villa was convicted again on Feb. 15, and it was his second strike. Defense attorney Kevin Nowack filed a Romero motion, essentially asking the court to overlook that previous strike in the sentencing, but
Judge Barbara Malloch denied it, according to Wagstaffe.

After a number of different sentencing hearings and continuances, the case was finally brought to a close today. Villa has nearly 3,000 days credit for time served, according to Wagstaffe.

Nowack did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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