Son who killed mom with hammer at Fresno home sentenced to prison

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Emotions remained raw in court Thursday morning more than four years after Gilberto Tiznado killed his mother.

As the 44-year-old Fresno man sat shackled in a red prison jumpsuit, his family members wept just feet away.

But Tiznado's relatives were not there to support him.

Instead, they delivered harsh words as they mourned the loss of 56-year-old Guadalupe Rivera Guzman.

"God will forgive you, but as for your family, I don't think we can ever forgive what you did," Misuko Guzman, the victim's niece, said.

The court asked Action News not to show the faces of the four loved ones who delivered victim impact statements, and Tiznado's attorney advised him to look straight ahead to avoid the camera. He did not appear to show any emotion.

In November, Tiznado pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. And in court on Thursday, some details of the brutal attack came out.

"This is a brutal murder. The victim was attacked in the kitchen while she was just having breakfast. Attacked from behind by surprise ... by a hammer," Deputy District Attorney David Olmos said.

Prosecutors had offered Tiznado a plea agreement, but he rejected it.

Then, just days after the trial started, Tiznado pleaded guilty because some of his family members were on the witness list to testify in court.

That guilty plea meant not all of the evidence came out in court, and it is unclear what led up to the surprise attack.

On Thursday, Judge Alvin Harrell III pushed for details.

"His family would probably want to know the same answer to the question I'm about to ask," the judge said. "What was going through his mind moments before he decided to strike his mother with this hammer?"

But defense attorney Greg Cross said his client did not want to address the court. However, Tiznado's former pastor previously told Action News Tiznado was suffering from a meth addiction when the murder occurred.

Just moments later, Tiznado learned his sentence. The judge denied probation, sentenced Tiznado to 25 years to life in prison, and ordered he pay about $4,300 in restitution.

Tiznado will soon go to Wasco State Prison to serve his sentence.