He shot his wife and left her to die. On Friday, he faced justice in a Tacoma courtroom
A 46-year-old man convicted of second-degree murder for shooting his wife during an argument in South Tacoma was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole under Washington’s “three strikes” law.
Before Ruben Cervantes Rios was sentenced, he told Pierce County Superior Court Judge Sabrina Ahrens in a letter written in Spanish that the shooting of 31-year-old Heather Cooper was an accident. He said it was never his intention to hurt her, and he wanted to apologize to her family and let them know that he has suffered the same way they have.
Ahrens disagreed with Rios’ words, which were read to her by the defendant’s attorney and translated by an interpreter.
“To suggest that this was an accident when you had the power, the ability to seek some care for her, it just flies in the face of reason,” Ahrens said.
Rios was convicted of the Feb. 28, 2022, domestic-violence shooting in a jury trial in November. In addition to the murder charge, jurors found him guilty of first-degree manslaughter, which was vacated at sentencing due to issues of double jeopardy. The court also found him guilty of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
The defendant’s attorney, Michael Stewart, said in court that when the shooting occurred, Rios and Cooper were involved in drug sales in a dangerous area, and Rios was armed.
“Whether the defense could argue that it was negligent or whether it was an accident, the jury rendered a verdict on manslaughter and on murder-2, finding the predicate of assault in the second degree, but did not find that he intended to cause the death of Heather Cooper,” Stewart said.
Cooper was a mother to four children, and she was born and raised in Tacoma. According to court records, she was shot in the top of the shoulder. The bullet also struck her in the neck and mouth, and she died of blood loss.
The woman was found dead in the 4900 block of South Burlington Way in a Dodge minivan by a passerby who called police.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Kelly Montgomery said Friday that according to the medical examiner, Cooper might have survived the shooting. Ahrens seemed to agree, later telling Rios that he passed a number of opportunities to stop and ask for help.
Instead, Ahrens said, video showed Rios riding away on a bicycle and trying to leave the scene when Tacoma Police Department officers arrived.
Due to Washington’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act and Rios’ criminal history, which included two other crimes considered “most serious offenses,” the only punishment available to Ahrens was life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to Stewart, those convictions were for second-degree attempted assault in 2004 and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in 2007, which included a firearm sentencing enhancement.
Rios was also convicted of inciting criminal profiteering in 2011 after he and several other prison inmates agreed to order the murder of a 26-year-old Tacoma gang leader who had reportedly fallen out of favor with his subordinates. Two teenage gang members who weren’t in prison shot the leader and another man at a West End home.
Stewart said Rios is a different person when he’s clean and sober. At the time of the shooting, Rios had relapsed, Stewart said, and he was using methamphetamine every day.
“When your honor sees his criminal history, that’s the Ruben Rios who was abused as a child, became addicted to methamphetamine and medicated his mental health through drugs,” Stewart said.
The defense attorney said the Rios he knows is sober, and he is truly remorseful for the pain and suffering he has caused. In custody, Stewart said Rios was medicated for major depressive disorder and went two years without an infraction. A man who was incarcerated with Rios at the Pierce County Jail in 2010 and 2011 wrote in a letter to the court that he remembered Rios standing up for people who would have otherwise become victims of “jailhouse predators.”
Cooper’s parents also spoke in court Friday, and her father said she was doing well until she met Rios.
“He just took her down and down and down,” Bruce Handlen said.
Cooper’s mother, Carla, said the fact that Rios gets to move on with his life at all was “sickening.” She said her family is serving a life sentence every time they miss out on something that they would have done with Cooper.
After court adjourned, Handlen told The News Tribune that Rios’ punishment of life in prison was “a little” comfort. But he said he couldn’t believe any of Rios’ words of apology.
“If he was true about being in love with my daughter, none of this would have happened,” Handlen said.
