By Victor Ochieng
Servando Silva, a 39-year-old man from California, had been accused of killing a pastor last year in an incident in which it was reported that he stabbed the pastor in the neck with a drywall saw blade.
After undergoing a trial for six days, Silva finally took a guilty plea to second-degree murder in Monterey County Superior Court. He had also been accused of assaulting his brother with a screwdriver some three hours before he took the life of the pastor, and to that too, he took a guilty plea.
Silva had gone into a plea deal in which he’d be sentenced to 38-years to life in prison on April 20, a deal that also included not appealing the sentence or withdrawing his guilty plea.
In March last year, Herbert Valero, 68, a pastor at Victory Outreach Church in Salinas, had stepped out of his home to meet with Silva who’d visited in need of help. All he thought was that it would involve nothing more than a simple prayer. Valero had made it clear to his church members that they could visit his home whenever they needed assistance. Sadly though, when he extended that kindness to Silva, it all turned into his death after the man stabbed him.
“Within minutes, while [Valero] was mid-sentence stating he was [Silva’s] friend and that he could help, Silva stabbed the pastor in the neck with a drywall saw blade,” prosecutors said in a press release.
After stabbing the pastor, Silva fled the scene even as the pastor ran back to his house, where he informed his wife and kids that it was Silva who’d stabbed him. His family dialed 911, but he ended up dead in his wife’s hands before the response team got to the scene. Silva was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, assault with deadly weapon and probation violation.
A report by the KSBW-TV said prosecutors were convinced that Silva murdering the pastor was as a result of “mental delusions.”
Pastor Valero, a father of six, worked selflessly in an effort to transform the addicted and those living the street life. Because he did his job so diligently, he earned great respect in the community.
“His church helps a lot of the people who we work with, like drug addicts or former gang members … people that other churches didn’t want to touch,” Second Chance Youth Program Executive Director Brian Contreras told The Californian.
“The world I came from before I got saved was gangs, drugs and just a lot of darkness. When I came into contact with Pastor Herb for the first time, through his testimony, it just showed me that I do have a second chance at life,” Juan Gonzalez, a former prisoner who met Valero while staying at a men’s home he operated, also shared with reporters.
“Pastor Herb was a servant of the community. He dedicated his life to God. He was determined to make somebody’s life a little bit better. He was able to minister broken men and women. He would go into the prisons, Chinatown; he would go everywhere,” City Council Member Tony Barrera said. “Herb is not going to leave a void; he is going to leave a legacy.”
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