Judge Sentences Former South Pasadena High School Student to 12 Years in Prison for Baseball Bat Attack

A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge sentenced 20-year-old Elijah Stinson, a former South Pasadena High School student, to 12 years in state prison this week for a Feb. 2008 baseball bat attack on another student Jeffrey Cortinez.

The attack left the victim, then 18 years old, with severe brain injuries, according to Detective Sgt. Jim Valencia of the South Pasadena Police Department. Cortinez is now confined to a wheelchair and has limited motor skills, due to the attack, Sgt. Valencia said. Both Stinson and Cortinez were high school seniors at the time.

Stinson was sentenced per a plea agreement to seven years for attempted murder without premeditation and an additional five years for assault with a deadly weapon. 

Sgt. Valencia said the victim's family and friends came to Alhambra Court House on Wednesday for the sentencing proceedings. "His mother read how the attack took away any future for her son," Sgt. Valencia said. "The attack nearly killed him and he suffered numerous medical issues," he added. Cortinez' family resides in South Pasadena, and Cortinez requires around-the-clock nursing care, police said.

According to Sgt. Valencia, Judge Candace J. Beason said she understood what Connie Cortinez, the victim's mother, was going through. "[The judge] was sympathetic to the mother," and added, "It was an emotional sentencing." The defendant, Stinson, made no comments during the sentencing.

In February 2008, Cortinez and his friends were in  at night, between 10:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., when Stinson and his then girlfriend Jeniell Galvan entered the park, according to Sgt. Valencia. Stinson struck the victim on the head with an aluminum baseball bat and fled in Galvin's SUV. 

"It is believed the attack was in retaliation for a fight between the victim and Stinson a week prior," according to Valencia. He added that fight took place in a parking lot near the South Pasadena High School grounds.

South Pasadena Police conducted an investigation after the attack, and arrested Stinson six days later. Galvan accepted a plea agreement and served three years in prison, and was released in Jan. 2010, Sgt. Valencia said.

Though Stinson was 17 years old at the time of the attack, the Juvenile Court District Attorney authorized officials to try him as an adult. "This was based on the seriousness of the crime," Sgt. Valencia said.

Since the attack, Stinson has been held at various L.A. County jails, and will now be transferred to the state prison system.