Janice R. Andrews
January 20, 2024, 1:58 p.m. Eastern Time:
A stunning turn of events occurred during Euren Balbuena’s sentencing. The victim’s stepfather attacked Balbuena in the courtroom, resulting in a violent confrontation. The event happened while victim impact statements about the violent stabbing death of Zaira Patino-Trejo, 31, almost four years ago, were being read in a Ventura County courtroom.
For the first-degree murder of Patino-Trejo, as well as for battery inflicting serious bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon against her mother, Balbuena, 33, was given a term ranging from 33 years to life in prison. District Attorney Erik Nasarenko confirmed the altercation during Thursday’s proceedings. The sentence took place in Ventura County.
The victim’s mother, Ariadna Avetisyan, who was also stabbed twice during the attack, was telling the victim impact statement about what happened when her husband, the victim’s stepfather, confronted Balbuena. According to reports, the stepfather struck the other man at least once before court bailiffs arrived and kept the two men apart.
The terrible event that occurred at Balbuena’s Simi Valley flat on February 27, 2020, led to his conviction on November 21, 2023. Authorities discovered that Patino-Trejo and Balbuena had a history of domestic abuse. When Avetisyan rushed to their flat, fearing for her daughter’s safety, she saw marks of abuse on Patino-Trejo’s face.
When Balbuena would not let Patino-Trejo to go, she struck Avetisyan with a kitchen knife. This was the tipping point in the scenario. He then turned his violence towards Patino-Trejo, killing her by stabbing her more than thirty times with various knives. A passerby saw that Avetisyan was bleeding from the attack and quickly dialled 911.
Three days after the incident, Balbuena was taken into custody and charged with Patino-Trejo’s murder. The victim was a lively young woman with a bright future who worked as a client associate for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. She was 31 years old.
In an effort to provide Patino-Trejo and her family with justice, supervising senior deputy district attorney Melissa Suttner expressed her hope that Balbuena’s sentencing may provide some comfort to the bereaved family. The altercation in court serves as a sobering reminder of the psychological toll that such horrible events may exact on people who are related to the victims.
