Man convicted of attacking people, deputies in La Quinta home with rocks sentenced to state prison

A La Quinta man who broke into a home and attacked people inside with a rock which he then threw at two sheriff's deputies, prompting a shooting that left him injured, was sentenced today to 12 years and four months in state prison.

Christopher Curci, 28, was convicted Dec. 15 of three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, two felony counts each of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer and burglary, and one count of threats to cause death or great bodily injury. Jurors also found true sentence-enhancing allegations of using a weapon during a felony and inflicting great bodily injury.   

He was sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Dean Benjamini Monday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to 12 years and four months in state prison, according to Riverside County District Attorney's office spokesman John Hall.

The charges stemmed from his attack on Jan. 16, 2019, in a home in the 77300 block of Avenida Montezuma in La Quinta, where he attacked two people with a rock then threw it at deputies, one whom was struck.   

Deputy District Attorney Melina Londos said the attack started when Curci broke a game console and television belonging to the victim, then later sent threatening messages to him.

According to Londos, Curci sent a text message that read, ``For the record, I want you both gone. So say your final prayers. You're dead, all of you.''
   At that point, the victim reported the threat and messages, so
deputies responded the home and were investigating when the defendant showed up
again, Londos said. Video from the front of the home shows Curci hitting one
victim in the head with such force that he was knocked to the ground, and then
throwing a rock into the house, where one of the deputies was struck.
   The victim who was knocked down required staples in his head and the
deputy believed that she had been shot because of the force with which the rock
was thrown, Londos said.
   Londos also showed jurors a video of Curci being interviewed after his
arrest, and he was seen saying that he meant for the texts to be taken as
threats and that he thought of grabbing an axe and using it to cut someone's
head off, but ultimately decided that was going too far.
   During Curci's preliminary hearing, a recorded interview between
Riverside County sheriff's Investigator Jason Trudeau and Curci was played, and
the defendant appeared to admit to breaking into the house earlier that day as
``payback'' for the homeowner's family allegedly previously burglarizing his
home.
   ``I went over there to confront him, and maybe even beat him up,''
Curci says in the recording.
   He contended in the interview with Trudeau that he only intended to
hit one of the men, and that the other, identified only as an elderly man by
Curci, was mistakenly caught in the crossfire.
   ``I had no intent on harming them,'' Curci said of the deputies.
   Curci ignored commands to stop throwing the rocks, and continued
walking toward the deputies, which is when he was shot twice in the stomach.