A Bucks County judge formally sentenced Alfonso Sanchez to death – a sentence handed down by a Bucks County jury earlier this month - on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, for the killing of Lisa Diaz inside a Warminster Township apartment in October 2007.
Sanchez, 41, formerly of Philadelphia, was additionally sentenced to life without parole for killing Mendez Thomas in the apartment that same day and a consecutive 52½ to 105 years for other crimes, including a plot to kill a woman who survived the 2007 rampage in the Bucks Landing apartments.
The sentence was handed down by Common Pleas Judge Alan M. Rubenstein, marking the second time Sanchez was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2007 murders of Diaz, 27, and Thomas, 22.
Prior to sentencing, relatives and friends of Thomas gave impact statements on how his murder has left a hole in their hearts. “It has been almost 16 years, but the pain of losing Mendez is still very fresh,” a friend said in her impact statement.