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Thread: Jonathan Del Carmen Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2014 CA Murder of 24-Year-Old USC Grad Student, Xinran Ji

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    Jonathan Del Carmen Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2014 CA Murder of 24-Year-Old USC Grad Student, Xinran Ji







    Woman, 1 of 4 suspects, found guilty in beating death of USC grad student


    By Melissa MacBride
    ABC7.com

    A jury found an 18-year-old woman guilty of 1st-degree murder Thursday in the 2014 beating death of a USC graduate student from China. Alejandra Guerrero was also found guilty of 2nd-degree robbery, attempted 2nd-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. She is 1 of 4 defendants accused of murdering Xinran Ji, 24.

    In July 2014, Ji was walking home when authorities said video captured Guerrero and her co-defendants - Andrew Garcia, 20, Jonathan Del Carmen, 21, and Albert Ochoa, 19, - stopping Ji on the street to rob him. They were armed with a metal bat and a wrench.

    Security cameras from the electric engineering student's apartment building captured him as he returned home bloodied after the attack. His roommate found Ji dead inside the apartment the next morning.

    "No outcome will bring back their son. But they don't want their son to die in vain," said Rose Tsai, the attorney for Ji's parents. "They are very appreciative for our system to give them the justice they've been hoping for and deserve."

    The assault with a deadly weapon charge was for a 2nd attack on a man and woman at Dockweiler State Beach, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

    Guerrero is expected to be sentenced on Nov. 28. Her co-defendants' trials are scheduled to start in November.

    Prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty against Garcia and Del Carmen, while Ochoa and Guerrero are not eligible for the death penalty.

    http://abc7.com/news/woman-found-gui...udent/1554009/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    August 2017

    Second Man Sentenced to Life in Prison For Murdering Chinese USC Student

    By Kyle Encina
    nextshark.com

    Jonathan Del Carmen, 22, has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection to Chinese USC student’s Xinran Ji death. Del Carmen was one of four people involved in the brutal assault on Ji with a baseball bat during the night of July 24, 2014.

    Del Carmen now becomes the third person convicted of the death of the Chinese engineering student, as he joins his accomplices Alejandra Guerrero and Andrew Garcia. According to the L.A. Times, another defendant, named Alberto Ochoa, was also involved but pleaded not guilty and is currently awaiting trial.

    As for Garcia, the 21-year-old was found guilty and will live life behind bars without the possibility of parole. Guerrero, 19, faces the same fate as Garcia after being convicted for first-degree murder, robbery, and assault, among others.

    Garcia and his group reportedly chased Ji and assaulted him with a baseball bat and a wrench after assuming that the student had money since he’s Chinese. While Ji was able to make his way back to his apartment, he died soon thereafter, and a roommate eventually found his lifeless body hours later.

    Ji’s unfortunate demise was just one incident out of the series of frightening events that occurred on USC’s campus since 2012. Two Chinese students were reportedly shot and killed during an armed robbery that occurred near the campus while another campus shooting incident occurred months later.

    Furthermore, the source mentioned that there are 4,600 Chinese students attending USC and Ji’s incident has instilled more fear and anxiety, not only within the university’s Chinese population, but within the Chinese community overall. In order to address the previous incidents, USC reportedly improved their security both within their campus and in off-campus neighborhoods as well.

    International students will also be required to complete a safety education program following the incident in order to avoid any reoccurring cases as much as possible.

    https://nextshark.com/jonathan-del-c...e-usc-student/
    Last edited by aljazres; 05-15-2018 at 08:15 AM.

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    September 5, 2017

    Chinese USC student’s killer gets life without parole

    By City News Service

    LOS ANGELES — A 21-year-old man was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal baseball-bat beating of a USC graduate student from China who was attacked during an attempted robbery near campus after walking another student home from a late-night study session.

    Andrew Garcia was convicted June 8 of first-degree murder for the July 24, 2014, death of Xinran Ji, a 24-year-old electrical engineering student.

    Garcia sat motionless and stared straight ahead during the emotional sentencing hearing that included tearful statements from the victim’s relatives, some of whom traveled from China.

    “We lost the sunshine from our life,” said Songbo Ji, the victim’s father, speaking through a Mandarin translator. “He was our only child. People our age are now planning weddings for sons and daughters. But every day for us, we are paying tribute to our son.

    We are completely heartbroken.”

    His voice breaking, Ji spoke to the near-capacity courtroom where a color photo of his late son wearing robes and a mortarboard faced the audience.

    The victim’s mother was too distraught to speak, but aunt Zhaohui Du told the court that the mother slept each night with the victim’s blanket, “so she could continue to provide warmth to her son.”

    “His life was taken by this demon,” Du said.

    While imposing sentence, Judge George G. Lomeli noted that the murder involved a “high degree of cruelty” upon a “highly vulnerable” victim. He also ordered that the Ji family be refunded about $7,000 for psychological counseling they received after the killing.

    Jurors in Garcia’s trial found true a special circumstance allegation of murder during an attempted robbery, along with an allegation that he personally used a baseball bat during the attack.

    Garcia’s co-defendant, Alejandra Guerrero, 19, was convicted last October of first-degree murder for her role in the killing, with jurors finding true the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of an attempted robbery, along with an allegation that she personally used a wrench during the attack on Ji.

    Guerrero — who is awaiting sentencing and also faces up to life in prison without parole — was also found guilty of one count each of robbery, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon for attacking a man and woman at Dockweiler State Beach about two hours after targeting Ji.

    Garcia was convicted of the same three charges stemming from the Dockweiler attack.

    Two other young men — Jonathan Del Carmen, 22, and Alberto Ochoa, 20 — are still awaiting trial in Ji’s killing.

    “They ambushed him. They caught him off-guard,” Deputy District Attorney John McKinney told jurors during his closing argument of Garcia’s trial, saying the victim was “mercilessly” beaten with a baseball bat.

    Garcia and Guerrero caught up to the victim after he fled from the scene of an initial confrontation and continued the attack, the prosecutor said.

    Garcia and Guerrero ran away after Del Carmen drove off and the two eventually got back into the vehicle with the others, while the victim was able to stagger away and make his way back to his fourth-floor apartment, McKinney told jurors.

    “He’s dying. The fatal blows have already been inflicted. He doesn’t know he’s dying ….,” the prosecutor said of surveillance footage showing the victim returning to the apartment building where he was found lifeless by one of his roommates later that morning.

    Garcia and three of his friends were subsequently involved in the attack at Dockweiler Beach, in which the female victim was robbed and the male victim was struck with a baseball bat, McKinney said.

    DNA testing determined that an aluminum baseball bat with blood on it that was found later that day near Dockweiler Beach contained Ji’s blood, the prosecutor said.

    When he was subsequently questioned by police about the attack on Ji, Garcia initially denied being in the area and then minimized his involvement in the crime and claimed Ochoa was the one wielding the bat during the attack on Ji, McKinney said.

    “The evidence suggests he (Garcia) inflicted most of the severe ones (blows),” the prosecutor said.

    In a surreptitiously recorded phone call between Ochoa and his mother after his arrest, Ochoa pinned the majority of the blame on Garcia in connection with the attack on Ji, McKinney noted.

    In his closing argument, Garcia’s attorney, David Kwak, told the panel, “What happened to Xinran is inexcusable … We (the prosecutor and I) both agree that Xinran Ji was victimized and that his injuries led to his death.”

    But he said the prosecutor had made “some fanciful arguments.”

    “No one ever bothered to take any property from Xinran Ji,” the defense lawyer told the seven-man, five-woman jury, saying there was a “lack of specific intent to commit a robbery.”

    He noted that Ji made it back to his apartment with his possessions, including a cellular phone and his wallet, showing jurors a photo of the wallet with cash inside.

    He said his client — who was 18 at the time — told authorities he was “high” and had “smoked a lot of weed” and that he was “simply trying to take the blame” and “protecting his friends.”

    Prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty against Garcia or Del Carmen. Guerrero and Ochoa could not face the death penalty because they were both under 18 at the time of the crime.

    Carol Walker, a chaplain who said she has known Garcia for eight months, spoke briefly at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, telling Lomeli the defendant was emotionally disturbed and had been raised without a permanent home, moving “from parks to shelters to motels.”

    “He has a precious life also,” she said. “I ask this court for your mercy.”

    Eddie North-Hager, director of media relations at USC, told the court that a Xinran Ji Memorial Scholarship had been established at the university. It will be awarded annually to a promising electrical engineering graduate student from China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.

    Ji “was destined to go so far. He was a top designer, a gifted engineer,” North-Hager said.

    Ji’s killing occurred two years after two other USC graduate students from China were shot to death during an April 2012 robbery as they sat in a car that was double-parked on a street near the USC campus.

    Two men — Javier Bolden and Bryan Barnes — were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killings of Ying Wu and Ming Qu, who were both 23.

    https://www.dailynews.com/2017/08/16...ithout-parole/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    2 more sentenced in 2014 beating death of USC grad student

    By Miriam Hernandez
    KABC-TV

    LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Two additional people have been sentenced in connection with the beating death of a USC graduate student from China.

    Defendant Alejandra Guerrero was 16 at the time of the incident on July 24, 2014, when 24-year-old engineering student Xinran Ji was attacked with a baseball bat and wrench while walking back to his apartment near campus after a study session.

    She was convicted in October 2016 of one count each of first-degree murder, robbery, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

    On Friday morning, she was sentenced to life in prison.

    Guerrero addressed the court at the hearing.

    "I am so sorry and I pray that one day they could forgive me," she said.

    Defense attorneys for Guerrero pleaded for mercy for the defendant, citing her abusive upbringing, but the prosecution reminded the court of her role in the violent attack.

    "She watched as he was crying and screaming for help, and she didn't just watch, but she got down on the ground where he was and participated in the attack," said prosecutor John McKinney.

    Jonathan Del Carmen, one of four people charged in the case, was accused of being the getaway driver in the attempted robbery. After pleading guilty to second-degree murder, he was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison.

    A third defendant, Albert Ochoa, is awaiting trial. Another assailant, Andrew Garcia, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

    Prosecutors said Ji was targeted in a group attack they described as "flocking." The suspects, prosecutors said, thought Ji would have money.

    Ji's parents sent a statement to the sentencing Friday, saying in part, "We live in sorrow and darkness every day."

    http://abc7.com/2-more-sentenced-in-...udent/3758913/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Final Defendant in Deadly 2014 Attack on USC Student Found Guilty of Murder

    By Marissa Wenzke and Sara Welch
    KTLA News

    The last of the four people to be tried in the fatal beating of a University of Southern California student was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges Wednesday.

    Jurors handed down the verdict after about two hours of deliberation, convicting 21-year-old Alberto Ochoa of murder, second-degree robbery, attempted second-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He will be sentenced on March 8.

    The other three suspects — Andrew Garcia, Alejandra Guerrero and Jonathan Del Carmen — have all been convicted in the deadly attack, with Garcia and Guerrero both being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    According to prosecutors, 24-year-old USC engineering student Xinran Ji was walking home from a study group around 1 a.m. on July 24, 2014 when he was attacked by four assailants, including Ochoa.

    They beat Ji with a metal baseball bat and wrench in a robbery attempt gone awry, according to prosecutors, leaving the 24-year-old to escape to his apartment near campus.

    Ochoa is accused of hitting the victim with a bat and then running away, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office stated in a news release.

    Ji left behind a trail of blood and was found dead by his roommate hours later.

    Prosecutors have alleged the killers targeted Ji because he is Chinese and had assumed he had money, according to the.

    With the final guilty verdict handed down in Ji's death, Deputy District Attorney John McKinnney told reporters outside the courtroom Wednesday that Ji's family in China came to Los Angeles multiple times for the ongoing trials in their son's murder.

    "The greatest satisfaction though is for whatever closure and peace there is for Ji's family back in China," McKinney said.

    "They are very grateful that the judicial system of our country is able to give them the justice that they've been waiting for, very patiently," said Rose Tsai, attorney for the Ji family.

    Meanwhile, McKinney said Ochoa has never "expressed any real remorse for what he did."

    The slain student's family appeared at a sentencing hearing for Garcia in August 2017. The first of the killers convicted, Garcia was accused of repeatedly striking Ji with a bat as he chased him down. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Guerrero was also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole while Del Carmen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years to life, according to the DA's office.

    “He was our only child and we lost him,” Ji’s father said through the translator at Garcia's sentencing hearing in 2017. “From that day, we lost the sunshine of our lives.”

    Ochoa was also convicted alongside Garcia and Guerrero for robbing a woman and man near Dockweiler Beach, according to prosecutors.

    https://ktla.com/2018/12/12/last-ass...lty-of-murder/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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