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Thread: Perez and Alvarez Sentenced to LWOP in 2009 CA Slaying of Roberta Marie Romero

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Perez and Alvarez Sentenced to LWOP in 2009 CA Slaying of Roberta Marie Romero

    Death issue before panel----2 charged with killing witness

    In Pomona, a prosecutor said Monday that he will meet Dec. 1 with a committee of Los Angeles County deputy district attorneys to decide whether to seek the death penalty against two men charged with murdering a witness in a gang case.

    Rodney Coronel Perez and Ramiro Juan Alvarez - alleged Azusa 13 gang members - are accused in the execution-style shooting death in Pomona of 24-year-old Roberta Marie Romero.

    Prosecutors said they believe Romero, a former associate of the gang, was killed May 11, 2009, because she testified against Ralph "Swifty" Flores, a high-level gang enforcer who was convicted of 4 murders and sentenced to death.

    Perez and Alvarez are scheduled to return to Pomona Superior Court on Jan. 14 to learn whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

    Deputy District Attorney Ian Phan said the committee has not expressed any preliminary opinions about the death penalty for Perez and Alvarez.

    Alvarez's attorney, Arthur Lindars, said that he doesn't believe Alvarez deserves the death penalty.

    According to a witness to Romero's killing, Perez committed the shooting while Alvarez had more of a supporting role. Lindars said he doesn't believe Alvarez knew of a plan to kill Romero when he helped Perez contact her.

    Besides discussing the possible death penalty for Perez and Alvarez, Judge Tia Fisher and attorneys on Monday discussed several other issues in the case.

    Alvarez, 26, asked for a copy of a transcript of the preliminary hearing, which included testimony from police and from a witness to Romero's killing.

    Fisher, citing safety concerns, denied Alvarez's request to bring the transcript with him to Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, where he and Perez are being held without bail.

    Perez, 30, told Fisher he wants to act as his own attorney. He's set to return to court on Oct. 29 with his current attorney, Antonio Bestard, for a hearing on his request.

    (Source: The Contra Costa Times)

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Accused killer to represent himself in court

    POMONA - An alleged gang member accused of murdering a woman who testified in a gang case was granted permission by a judge Friday to act as his own attorney.

    Rodney Colonel Perez, 30, could face the death penalty for allegedly shooting and killing 24-year-old Roberta Romero last year in Pomona.

    Prosecutors believe that Romero, of Azusa, was killed on May 11, 2009, because she testified against a high-ranking member of the Azusa 13 street gang who was convicted of four murders and sentenced to death.

    Before Judge Tia Fisher relieved Perez's attorney and placed Perez in control of his case, she warned him of the difficulty of representing himself.

    "I think that that's a bad choice," Fisher told Perez in Pomona Superior Court. "... It would certainly be against my advice."

    Perez told Fisher he has no legal training and has never acted as his own attorney in prior criminal cases. He said his highest education level is 11th grade. He also said he completed one semester at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

    Perez's former attorney, Antonio Bestard, said after the hearing that Perez was adamant about representing himself.

    "He feels he can represent himself better," Bestard said. "He said he just wants to do this."

    Though Perez became his own attorney Friday, Fisher denied him access to legal documents in his case.

    Deputy District Attorney Ian Phan, Perez's prosecutor, argued that Perez should not have
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    access to documents such as police reports because of the potential harm to witnesses. He noted that Perez is accused of murdering a gang witness.

    Fisher said that Perez's former attorney would be ordered to give his documents to a private investigator, who would be prohibited from sharing copies with Perez.

    Perez said he needs the documents to mount a defense, and asked to make a formal motion for access to the documents. He is set to return to court Nov. 30 to ask Fisher for access to the documents.

    Also on Nov. 30, Perez is expected to bring a letter to court for a committee of Los Angeles County deputy district attorneys who will decide whether to seek the death penalty against Perez and his co-defendant.

    The committee is set to meet Dec. 1, Phan said.

    Ramiro Juan Alvarez, 26, is charged with murder for allegedly aiding and abetting Perez in Romero's killing.

    http://www.contracostatimes.com/cali...nclick_check=1

  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Prosecutors to seek death penalty against men charged with murdering witness

    POMONA - The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty against two men charged with murdering a woman who testified in a prior gang case, a prosecutor said Thursday.

    Rodney Colonel Perez and Ramiro Juan Alvarez - alleged Azusa 13 gang members - are accused of collaborating in the 2009 shooting death in Pomona of Roberta Romero, 24.

    Deputy District Attorney Ian Phan announced his office's decision Thursday during a hearing for Alvarez in Pomona Superior Court. Phan said he notified Perez of the decision on Tuesday during a separate court hearing.

    Romero, a former Azusa 13 gang associate, testified twice against Ralph "Swifty" Flores, an enforcer for the gang who in 2007 was convicted of four murders and sentenced to death.

    Prosecutors contend Romero was targeted by Perez and Alvarez because of her testimony against Flores.

    Phan said he met last month with a committee in the District Attorney's Office that decides whether to seek the death penalty against eligible defendants.

    "Basically, I met with them and discussed the case, and the committee decided on death," Phan said.

    At a preliminary hearing last year, a woman who was with Alvarez and Perez during Romero's killing testified that in the early morning of May 11, 2009, the men met with Romero by first gaining access to her son and threatening to harm him if Romero didn't get in their car.

    Once in the car, Romero apologized for testifying against Flores and admitted she made a mistake, according to the witness.

    At about 5 a.m., the group stopped at the unlit intersection of Glenpark Street and Bellevue Avenue in Pomona, and Perez was forced out of the car, according to the witness.

    Romero knelt in the road and pleaded for her life before being shot to death by Perez, according to the witness.

    Perez, 30, and Alvarez, 26, are scheduled to appear for a court hearing this morning at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.

    Alvarez's attorney, Arthur P. Lindars, did not return a call Thursday seeking comment.

    In an earlier interview, Lindars said he didn't believe Alvarez deserved the death penalty for his alleged role in Romero's killing.

    http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_17028945

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    Jury deadlocks on death penalty for Azusa gang members in witness' murder

    By Brian Day
    SGVN

    A Los Angeles jury was unable to reach a death penalty verdict for two gang members convicted of executing an Azusa woman nearly three years ago in retaliation for her testimony in a fellow gang member's trial for murder, officials said Thursday.

    Azusa 13 gang members Rodney Coronel Perez, 31, of Covina and Ramiro Juan Alvarez, 27, of Azusa were convicted April 17 of the May 11, 2009 shooting death of 24-year-old Roberta Marie Romero in Pomona, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said. The jury also found true special allegations of murdering a witness and killing for the benefit of a street gang.

    After two weeks of deliberation on whether the killers should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment, the jury came back Wednesday afternoon and said they were deadlocked, Robison said.

    The jurors voted 8-4 in favor of life in prison without the possibility of parole for Ramiro, and 8-4 in favor of death penalty for Perez, officials said.

    The District Attorney's office is going to retry the penalty phase, Robison said.

    Alvarez and Perez were ordered back to Los Angeles Superior Court June 15 for a pre-trial hearing in the second penalty phase trial, officials said.

    The jury deliberated for 20 days before convicting the men of murder on April 17, Robison said.

    Prosecutors alleged that Alvarez and Perez targeted Romero because she had testified in the 2008 trial of Azusa 13 gang member Ralph "Swifty" Flores, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of four murders. Romero testified in the case of 28-year-old Fenise Luna of Azusa, who Flores tortured and murdered in 2004 after she refused to sign over the title of her car.

    According to testimony heard during the proceedings against Alvarez and Perez, the men forced Romero into into a car in West Covina by threatening to harm her son if she didn't comply. Alvarez and Perez drove her to a dark intersection at the corner of Glenpark Street and Bellevue Avenue in Pomona and forced her from the car, according to testimony.

    She was kneeling and begging for her life when Perez shot her in the head, witnesses testified.

    Flores, who authorities described as a gang "enforcer," carried out his killings between 1999 and 2004, a jury found. One of Flores' four victims - 23-year-old Claudia Chenet of Azusa - was targeted in 2003 because of Flores' mistaken belief that she had cooperated with investigators in a narcotics case.

    In addition to Luna and Chenet, Flores' other victims were 20-year-old Miguel Reyes of West Covina, fatally shot during a gang dispute at a party in 2004, and Christopher Lynch, a 16-year boy from Valinda who was targeted and shot to death at a party in 1999 because he was black.

    Last year, Azusa investigators revealed the results of a years-long investigation into the Azusa 13 street gang and its racial violence targeting black residents dating back to the 1990s. An indictment unsealed in the summer of 2011 named 51 Azusa 13 members accused of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to civil rights violations.

    http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_20...embers-witness
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  5. #5
    Senior Member Frequent Poster PATRICK5's Avatar
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    These jurors are idiots. Or, most likely lied during voir dire. I would love to see one caught some day and prosecuted.
    Obama ate my dad

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    Convicted Gang Members Sentenced for Murdering Witness

    Two gang members were sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering a woman who had testified in another gang member's murder trial.

    Rodney Perez, 32, and Ramiro Juan Alvarez, 28, were convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder for the May 11, 2009, shooting death of Roberta Romero.

    The 24-year-old victim was driven from West Covina to Pomona and shot three times -- once each in the head, chest and back -- slightly over a year after testifying as a prosecution witness in the murder trial of Ralph Flores, who belonged to the same gang as Perez and Alvarez and who was sentenced to death in September 2008 after being convicted of four murders.

    The victim's mother, Barbara Garcia, said she was in court to "let you know how you destroyed our lives by taking Roberta's life."

    She noted that her daughter's son "is growing up without his mother" and "has many questions as to why this happened to his mother."

    "I can't even begin to tell you the pain you have placed in my heart and how angry I am because you took my daughter's life," she said, noting that she spent Wednesday, which would have been her daughter's 28th birthday, at the cemetery. "No parent should have to bury their children," she said.

    Prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty against Perez and Alvarez after two juries deadlocked this year on whether to recommend a death sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    On Oct. 25, jurors announced that they were split 10-2 in favor of life in prison without the possibility of parole for Perez and 11-1 in favor of a life prison term for Alvarez.

    In May, the first jury to hear the case against the two deadlocked 8-4 in favor of a death sentence for Perez and 8-4 in favor of life behind bars for Alvarez. That panel had convicted the two men of first-degree murder and found true the special circumstance allegations of murder of a witness and murder to further the activities of a criminal street gang.

    The two were sentenced by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen.

    http://claremont-laverne.patch.com/a...dering-witness
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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