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Thread: Jose Guerrero - California Death Row

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    Jose Guerrero - California Death Row


    Jose Guerrero


    Facts of the Crime:

    Was sentenced to death on June 23, 2009 by a Madera County jury for killing 22-year-old Tamara Hernandez in 1998, shooting and killing 41-year-old Julia Woodley in 1995, and strangling to death 30-year-old Sharlene Fowler in 1998. The jury also found Guerrero guilty of attempting to kill Evelyn Estrada, the only woman able to survive Guerrero's attacks.

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    March 3, 2009

    Three women were slain, one escaped in 1990s

    MADERA -- The first body was discovered in a pistachio orchard a couple of miles north of Madera. The 30-year-old mother had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

    Two months later, a bicyclist found the body of a 15-year-old girl lying in a canal on the city's outskirts. She had been beaten and stabbed several times.

    Hunters found the third victim. The 22-year-old woman was lying on the ground in a field just west of town, her bloodied face in the dirt and her arms covering her head.

    Three killings in four months. Madera County had a serial killer.

    Now, more than a decade after the 1998 slayings, Jose Guerrero is standing trial for two of the three homicides. Opening statements in the case begin today in Madera County Superior Court.

    Guerrero also is charged with the killing and sexual assault of a third woman in 1995 and the attempted murder of another victim later that year. Authorities say he is Madera County's first suspected serial killer in decades -- if ever.

    "We're a cow county," said John Anderson, who was sworn in as sheriff right after the 1998 murders and still holds the post. "This is the kind of thing you read about happening in Oakland or San Francisco, or even Fresno, but not in Madera."

    If Guerrero is convicted, a jury will decide whether he deserves the death penalty. It's the first time prosecutors here have tried a death penalty case in a decade.

    Guerrero has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys declined to talk about the case. But in a taped confession played in court during pretrial motions Monday, Guerrero admitted killing three women and attempting to kill a fourth.

    In one taped interview, Guerrero seemed to think he would receive the death penalty. He said he thought he was going to "Quentin," and added, "I want to get this over with."

    San Quentin State Prison is where California inmates await the death penalty.

    Guerrero's trial is expected to take up to six weeks. If convicted, most of that time will be spent on the penalty phase, in which jurors will determine Guerrero's fate.

    But some of the victims' family members say a conviction won't end their grief.

    "When you kill somebody, you bring tragedy to their family for the rest of their lives," said Jerry Prudek, the father of one of the victims, Julia Woodley.

    Unsolved murders

    Detectives who investigated the murders remember them well. As the killings continued in 1998, they said, residents grew increasingly nervous.

    People posted signs on utility poles warning of a serial killer. Calls poured in to the police and sheriff's departments: Check out the suspicious man in the minimart. Has there been another murder? Why hasn't anyone been arrested?

    "People were scared," said Sgt. Robert Salas, a Madera police detective who investigated the murders. "They kept calling and saying, 'What are you doing? We've got a serial killer. Nobody's safe.'"

    The investigators followed the obvious leads first: They talked to relatives of the victims and found out who had grudges against them. But after many interviews, nothing stuck.

    All three of the victims were involved in drugs and prostitution, so the investigators talked to every drug dealer they knew. But nothing came of those interviews either.

    "We had no leads," said Terry Ginder, who was the only sheriff's detective assigned to investigate violent crimes in Madera County at the time. "I felt terrible because I just couldn't get anywhere with it."

    No one talked to Guerrero, who investigators knew only as a low-level criminal without any history of violence.

    http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1234150.html

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    April 22, 2009

    A Madera County jury this morning voted unanimously to give a death penalty sentence to serial murderer Jose Guerrero, who was convicted last week of killing three women and attacking a fourth.

    The jury deliberated only a short time today before voting unanimously to send Guerrero, 37, to death row. The sentencing phase began Monday with testimony from relatives and continued Tuesday with testimony from a clinical psychologist.

    Prosecutors say Guerrero killed Tamara Hernandez, 22, in November 1998. He also murdered Julia Woodley, a 41-year-old mother who was shot in the heart in April 1995, and Sharlene Fowler, a 30-year-old woman who was strangled in July 1998. Guerrero tried to kill Estrada, now 55, in November 1995.

    http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/1349727.html

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    June 22, 2009

    Death Penalty For Convicted Madera Serial Killer

    A sentence was handed down on Tuesday for convicted serial killer Jose Guerrero.

    Guerrero will face the death penalty, a sentence recommended for him by a jury back in April.

    A few months back, Guerrero was found guilty by a Madera County Jury of killing three women and attempting to kill a fourth in the mid-1990's.

    A Madera County Jury found Guerrero guilty of killing 22-year-old Tamara Hernandez in 1998, shooting and killing 41-year-old Julia Woodley in 1995, and strangling to death 30- year-old Sharlene Fowler in 1998.

    The jury also found Guerrero guilty of attempting to kill Evelyn Estrada, the only woman able to survive Guerrero's attacks.

    http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=10580428

  5. #5
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Counsel was appointed to represent Guerrero on direct appeal on October 30, 2013.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S174227

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    On March 1, 2018, Guerrero filed an initial brief on direct appeal before the California Supreme Court.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...hSQCAgCg%3D%3D

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    The prosecution filed its response on the 26th of February 2019.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....hSQCAgCg%3D%3D

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    This case has been fully briefed on direct appeal since the 13th of February 2020.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....hSQCAgCg%3D%3D

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