Sentenced to 10 years in CHP officer’s death, he served less than 4 before next arrest

The man convicted in a case involving the 2017 death of a California Highway Patrol officer — who served three years, five months and seven days in custody — is facing new charges months after his early release from prison.

Alberto Morales Quiroz was sentenced in January 2018 to a 10-year term in state prison after pleading no contest in a case in which he tried to outrun CHP Officer Lucas Chellew on a stolen motorcycle during rush hour in south Sacramento in 2017, authorities say.

Near Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard, a motorist inadvertently cut Chellew off, causing the eight-year CHP veteran to crash his motorcycle into a pole.

The 31-year-old officer, husband and father died from his injuries that night.

Quiroz, 29, faced sentencing in that case in January 2018 as CHP officers and Chellew’s widow, Christina, packed into the courtroom to watch.

“When you left Lucas to die at the side of the road, you issued a life sentence to me, my children, and everyone who cared for him,” the widow told Quiroz at the time.

As it turns out, Quiroz got a much lighter sentence.

‘There is something wrong with the math here’

He was released from state prison last summer, which was news to Sacramento prosecutor Aaron Miller, who did not know Quiroz was out until he was arrested again on May 5.

“It was a shock to us,” Miller said outside court after he argued successfully to a judge that Quiroz should not be released on bail.

Quiroz is charged with assaulting a relative with a 9 mm semi automatic “ghost” Glock, making threats and illegal possession of a firearm that had a high-capacity, 30-round magazine loaded with 21 rounds.

“The reason I am here today is because I prosecuted Mr. Quiroz in 2017,” Miller told Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Savage on Wednesday morning as Quiroz watched from a courtroom jail cell.

Miller recounted the defendant’s history of failing to appear five times in a Placer County case involving another stolen motorcycle, and explained how he prosecuted Quiroz in that case and Chellew’s death as he sought a 14-year prison term for him.

“There is something wrong with the math here, and that is because Mr. Quiroz was paroled in July 2020,” Miller told the judge.

Savage agreed that there is “clear and convincing” evidence that Quiroz posed a high risk to the community, declared he would not allow him out on bail and made reference to what he called the “tremendous wisdom” of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials who allowed him to be released.

“We’re just very fortunate that no one was physically harmed (in the latest case), but we’re not going to make that mistake again,” Savage said.

Quiroz credited with time served, credit-earning

Christina Chellew could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and Miller said he wasn’t certain whether she knew Quiroz had won his release last summer.

A corrections official said that, because of the state’s emergency efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons, Quiroz’s actual release was made only three weeks before he was expected to go free.

“He was awarded 676 days of pre-sentence credits by the judge in the case for time spent in jail while awaiting adjudication, as well as 26 days of post-sentencing credits while awaiting transfer to prison,” corrections spokeswoman Dana Simas wrote in an email Tuesday. “He was eligible for 66.6% credit-earning, which is two days for every one day served while incarcerated, per statute.

“Quiroz’s original release date was adjusted from Aug. 18, 2020 to July 27, 2020 (a total of three weeks before his natural release date) as a result of emergency efforts taken during COVID to decompress the system, not because of specific COVID-related concerns.”

But Quiroz likely will not win release again any time soon. He is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail on the felony charges, as well as a charge of violating his parole, and has his next court hearing scheduled for June 2.

This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 11:23 AM.