A San Mateo County Superior Court judge will decide Monday morning whether a 26-year-old man who murdered East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May in 2006 will receive the death penalty or life in prison without the chance for parole. On Dec. 22, 2009, jurors in Redwood City recommended the death penalty for Alberto Alvarez after convicting him Nov. 25, 2009, of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of killing a peace officer for fatally shooting May. [3]

The judge imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection on 26-year-old Alberto Alvarez, found guilty of first degree murder with special circumstances for the 2006 slaying of Officer Richard May. [7]

Had Judge Craig Parsons not upheld the death sentence, Alvarez would have faced life in prison without the chance of parole. [1]

Alberto Alvarez, 26, showed no reaction as family members of Officer Richard May denounced him in a packed Redwood City courtroom. The slain officer's stepfather, Frank Merrill, and father, Rick May, pumped their arms as Parsons told Alvarez that he would be executed. [6]

Alvarez then fired two additional shots into May, including a fatal shot to the head, which one juror said was "the deciding factor" in recommending the death penalty. [2]