Valdez Continues to Claim Innocence during Sentencing

By D.C. Witness Staff - May 31, 2018
Court | Featured | Homicides | Suspects |

Even after being convicted of first-degree murder for shooting three people in 1991,
Benito Valdez continued to claim his innocence during his sentencing hearing on May 25.

Valdez, who is classified as being Hispanic, was sentenced  to 94 years to life in prison for

Keith Simmons

shooting Samantha Gillard, Curtis Pixley and Keith Simmons on the 1800 block of Franklin Street, NE in Langdon Park. According to a witness, the three victims were shot “execution-style”. Valdez was also found guilty of kidnapping and sodomy.

“I didn’t do it,” Valdez, 47, said, ignoring advice from his lawyer to keep quiet. “There’s a lot of things you didn’t get to hear… During trial, I actually wanted to take the stand… They said no one would believe that I wasn’t that kind of person.”

Samantha Gillard

During the sentencing, Valdez’s mother cried out in agony. However, the pain she felt was not the only pain present in the courtroom.

The families of Gillard, 23; Pixley, 29; and Simmons, 24 told DC Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff about how the homicides changed their lives.

“My mother ate, slept and breathed Sam,” Gillard’s sister said. She “grieved herself to death because she thought it was something she did or didn’t do.”

Sandra Pixley, Curtis’ older sister, told the judge that she did not want to see

Curtis Pixley

Valdez spend the rest of his life in prison, but she also said he did not seem remorseful.

“I think he’s a sociopath,” Sandra told D.C. Witness after the sentencing. “I watched him during trial… Justice did prevail.”

Valdez’s sentence was imposed but due to errors with the pre-sentence report, another sentencing is scheduled for June 22 to correct them.