Jose Cardenas, 24, of Mexico, was sentenced Tuesday in Canyon County for stabbing his pregnant girlfriend multiple times and leaving her for dead.
Cardenas had been charged with battery with the intent to commit murder, a felony.
Judge George Southworth sentenced Cardenas to eight years fixed, followed by twelve years indeterminate, for a total unified sentence of twenty years in prison.
The judge also ordered Cardenas to submit a DNA sample to the Idaho database and have no contact with the victim or victim’s family for a period of twenty years. Cardenas was also ordered pay a $5,000 civil penalty, as well as $500 in fines and court costs.
"Cardenas was arrested in August of last year, following an investigation by the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office that revealed he had stabbed his girlfriend multiple times during an argument while they were inside a car”, according to Canyon County spokesman Joe Decker.
According to detectives, Cardenas lured the victim away from her workplace and, once he was inside her car, Cardenas took the victim’s keys and cell phone and stabbed her multiple times in the upper chest and neck area.
“Cardenas then left the victim bleeding on the side of the road and fled the scene without calling for help,” said Decker. “The victim was fourteen weeks pregnant at the time of the attack.”
Cardenas later admitted to detectives that he stabbed her multiple times out of frustration and that he disposed of the knife in a nearby canal, according to reports. He also admitted to taking the knife earlier in the day from his uncle’s house after an argument between he and the victim.
“Mr. Cardenas showed no regard for the law or human life when he attacked the victim and left her for dead on the side of the road,” said Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor. “Thankfully, she was able to call for help -- or this very well could have been a homicide.”
