BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Nearly two months after accepting a plea deal, a 20-year-old man learned his prison sentence on Wednesday inside a tense Bexar County courtroom.
Victor Rivas, who was charged with murder in the 2022 death of 15-year-old Ethan Soto, will spend the next 40 years in a state prison. Rivas was also sentenced to 10 years in prison on an evading arrest charge.
Because both sentences are a part of Rivas’ plea deal, he will serve them concurrently over the next 40 years.
KSAT witnessed a large law enforcement presence — approximately two dozen deputies — at the sentencing hearing in the 144th District Court that was initially scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
According to a previous KSAT report, Soto was lured from his home on the Northwest Side. An arrest warrant affidavit stated that tension between the teenagers started hours before the deadly shooting.
Investigators said Soto robbed Rivas of THC cartridges, and Rivas shot at Soto and his family’s home. Soto was not injured in this incident.
The affidavit stated that Soto’s mother attempted to resolve the situation by paying Rivas for the stolen cartridges. However, Rivas later conspired with an underage girl to lure Soto into a trap where he was ambushed and fatally shot.
During Rivas’ court hearing back in October 2023, Soto’s family was seen in a video jumping into the jury box and attacking Rivas.
BCSO said after Rivas made a gesture toward Soto’s family members, they jumped over a partition in the courtroom and began assaulting Rivas.
Four people were arrested following the incident.
Soto was the brother of Savanah Soto, who was killed along with her boyfriend Matthew Guerra and their unborn child in an unrelated incident on Dec. 21, 2023.
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