California man sentenced for fatally stabbing girlfriend more than 30 times in front of her mother

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (TCD) -- A judge sentenced a man this week to 33 years to life in prison for the 2020 stabbing death of his live-in girlfriend and the assault of her mother, who had tried to intervene. Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that Euren Balbuena was sentenced Jan. 17 for the first-degree murder of his romantic partner, Zaira Patino-Trejo, as well as battery causing great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon against his girlfriend’s mother. A jury convicted Balbuena on Nov. 21, 2023, and also found special allegations of use of a deadly we