23-year-old receives one year jail term
A 23-year-old Lincoln woman was sentenced today to one year in the Placer County jail, placed on five years of probation and given a suspended four-year state prison term for viciously pulling the ear off another woman during a fight in a bar on Jan. 18, 2009.
Andrea Gabrielle Cordova received the sentence from Placer County Superior Court Larry D. Gaddis.
Prosecutor Stephanie Macumber of the Placer County District Attorney’s Office argued for a prison sentence of eight years, saying she had seen a lack of remorse from Cordova.
‘She doesn’t acknowledge her crime or say that she’s sorry,’ Macumber told the judge.
Macumber said Cordova had shown previous violence, citing incidents in which she attacked a cab driver and a policeman.
‘She constitutes a danger to society and it appears that no one can control her,’ she said.
Macumber said Cordova ‘lured’ the 24-year-old victim to the restroom of the Lincolnbar on the pretense of wanting to tell the victim that a male at the bar had expressed interest in her. Cordova then attacked the victim, ripping off her ear, she said. Surgeons were unable to reattach the victim’s ear.
The victim attended today’s sentencing and told the judge in a tearful statement that Cordova ‘hurts people and has no regard for other people.’
The victim said she’d never been in a physical confrontation in her life until Cordova attacked her.
She said she is reminded of the painful incident everyday when she must put on a prosthetic ear. At one point, her three-year-old daughter was afraid of her because of the bandages on her head, the victim said.
Macumber told the judge that Cordova has continually painted herself as the victim in the case ‘when she herself was the perpetrator of this vicious act.’
‘She was on probation when the incident occurred and she was not supposed to be drinking or in a bar,’ Macumber said.
Cordova, who pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to a felony charge of mayhem, was told by Gaddis that she appeared to be ‘going down a bad road.’
‘There is escalating anger and acting out that just can’t be condoned,’ Gaddis said.
Gaddis banned Cordova from any contact with the victim and ordered her to refrain from drugs and alcohol and to stay out of bars.
He ordered her to attend anger management classes, perform 20 hours of community service and to submit to search and seizure by law enforcement. She cannot possess firearms or other weapons, he said.
Gaddis also imposed fines, fees and restitution totaling about $3,500. Cordova will also be subject to restitution for the victim’s medical costs when an amount is determined.