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Thread: Arsenio Devo Morgan Sentenced to LWOP in 2008 CA Double Homicide

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    Arsenio Devo Morgan Sentenced to LWOP in 2008 CA Double Homicide


    Arsenio Devo Morgan


    Salvador Soliz


    Ramiro Sanchez


    Shooting allegedly motivated by desire to join street gang

    RIVERSIDE - A preliminary hearing is expected to wrap up today for a Riverside man accused of gunning down a young man and his friend near the UC Riverside campus, in an attack allegedly motivated by the defendant's desire to be in an all-black street gang.

    Arsenio Devo Morgan, 20, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of gang activity, as well as multiple sentence-enhancing allegations, including that the shootings were part of a hate crime.

    Morgan allegedly killed 18-year-old Salvador Soliz and 16-year-old Ramiro Sanchez on Dec. 14, 2008, to gain admittance to the 1200 Blocc Crips, a decades-old gang in Riverside.

    A preliminary hearing in the case -- which will determine whether there's sufficient evidence to warrant a trial -- began Wednesday. At least a half-dozen witnesses have been called to testify so far. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Elisabeth Sichel ordered increased security because family members of the victims and the defendant's friends apparently exchanged words outside the courtroom.

    Morgan, who is still serving a six-year prison term for armed robbery, was identified by a police informant last April, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

    During a news briefing in May, former District Attorney Rod Pacheco said detectives learned that in 2008, Morgan was seeking to leave a small-time gang called Sex Cash in favor of joining the 1200 Blocc Crips. But in order to earn a place, he had to "put some work in -- literally, kill someone," Pacheco said.

    Crips members told the defendant about a birthday party attended mostly by Hispanics at a residence in the 1800 block of Enterprise Avenue, and Morgan went there with the intent to kill, according to the former prosecutor.

    Around midnight, Morgan arrived at the party and allegedly opened fire on a group of celebrants standing in the driveway.

    Soliz, who had just graduated from Poly High School, died at the scene. Sanchez died less than an hour later at Riverside Community Hospital.

    "The tragic shooting elevated the status of one violent gang member at the cost of two young lives simply because their killer believed they belonged to the wrong race," Pacheco said in May.

    Morgan could face the death penalty if convicted.

    http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/54121/

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    RIVERSIDE: Jury must find motive in double-murder trial

    BY JOHN ASBURY
    STAFF WRITER

    Arsenio Morgan walked up to a party on Riverside’s Eastside more than five years ago and killed two Riverside teens.

    That much is certain. His defense attorneys don’t dispute that Morgan killed Salvador Soliz, 18, and Ramiro Sanchez, 16, on Dec. 14, 2008.

    At issue with prosecutors and defense is whether the shooting was a gang initiation double murder or self-defense.

    Morgan, now 23, sat in court Wednesday, Feb. 19, for the second day of his trial, facing two charges of murder plus a gang allegation that could mean the death penalty or life in prison without parole if he’s convicted.

    A coroner’s pathologist reviewed the multiple gunshot wounds that left both teens dead.

    A day earlier, family members ran out of the court sobbing when photos of the teens lying at the crime scene were first shown.

    Prosecutors said Morgan was a member of a Moreno Valley gang but was attempting to pledge with a Riverside-based gang after his brother was murdered.

    The night of Dec. 13, Morgan got a phone call to “put work in,” an order to kill someone as a gang initiation, the prosecutor said.

    “This case boils down to two young men murdered in cold blood so the defendant could make bones with a gang,” Deputy District Attorney Christopher Cook told the jury during his opening statement. “All so he could establish himself as a violent person and pledge loyalty to the gang.”

    But Morgan’s defense attorney said he had no choice to open fire after he was confronted by another rival gang.

    “In some ways, Mr. Morgan was destined for that (defendant’s) chair or face down in a pool of blood,” Ryan Markson told the jury. “He made choices that night, but other choices were made for him.”

    Soliz and Sanchez — who were not gang members — were attending the party at a home on Enterprise Avenue along with about 200 other people, including several North High and Riverside Poly students, Cook said.

    Morgan walked up to the front gate just after midnight, pulled a handgun and opened fire, shouting the name of his gang, the prosecutor said.

    Sanchez was shot three times in the chest and Soliz was shot twice in the abdomen and in the back of the head, Cook said.

    But defense attorneys contended that Morgan didn’t go to the house to kill anyone. Markson said his client was going to the party to meet girls when he was asked what gang he was from.

    Morgan saw rival gang members reach for a weapon behind their back, Markson said, so Morgan pulled a gun and started shooting.

    Markson asked the jury to find Morgan not guilty of murder charges due to justifiable self defense. He said Morgan “did what he felt he had to do”

    “This is not a whodunit,” Markson said. “Is this a cold-blooded calculated double execution for self-aggrandizement into a gang? Or is it lawful self defense? Or is it something in between?”

    http://www.pe.com/local-news/riversi...rder-trial.ece

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    RIVERSIDE: Gang member says he shot in self-defense

    BY JOHN ASBURY
    STAFF WRITER

    A Riverside gang member who killed two teens told a jury that he felt he had “no choice” but to open fire because he thought he was being confronted by rival gang members at a party in 2008.

    Arsenio Morgan, 23, testified in his own defense Monday in his double murder trial for the killings of Salvador Soliz, 18, and Ramiro Sanchez, 16, at a party Dec. 14, 2008, on Enterprise Avenue in Riverside.

    Morgan has admitted killing both teens, but has claimed justifiable self-defense because he thought rival gang members would kill him if he didn’t start shooting first.

    “I didn’t think. I just reacted. I thought he was going to pull a gun,” Morgan said. “I thought if I didn’t pull mine first, it would be the end of the story.”

    Prosecutors said Soliz and Sanchez were not gang members.

    A jailhouse informant told Riverside police detectives two years after the shooting that Morgan was going to the party as part of a gang initiation to kill members from a rival gang.

    Morgan denied that allegation during his testimony. He said he walked to the party with his 13-year-old friend to meet girls.

    He said he has spent most of his life in juvenile hall or jail after joining a Moreno Valley gang when he was 13. Once he was released from custody after his 18th birthday, he was starting a gateway program at Riverside City College and had a scholarship to UC Riverside.

    When Morgan got to the party, he said a man at the front gate asked to search him for weapons. When he refused to be searched, the man asked, “Where are you from?”

    Morgan identified his gang and said the man leaned forward while reaching for something behind his back. He said other partygoers yelled out about a gun.

    As the man reached behind his back, Morgan grabbed his .38-caliber revolver from his side and began firing into a crowd of six or seven people.

    . “I pulled my gun and fired it until it clicked. I wasn’t aiming for anyone. I was just firing in their general direction,” Morgan said. “I felt like it was him or me. I squeezed that trigger eight times with only six shots in it.”

    All six shots fired struck Sanchez and Soliz; Sanchez was shot three times in the chest and Soliz was shot twice in the stomach and once in the back of the head.

    That night, Morgan didn’t know if anyone was hit, but later learned he was wanted for investigation of double murder. He hid the gun in a friend’s shed, and then he and his 13-year-old friend ran through Bobby Bonds Park, where they hid behind trees from a Riverside police helicopter’s spotlight.

    “I regret a lot of things about that night,” Morgan said. “I still feel like if I didn’t do what I had done, this would be my murder trial and those pictures of the victims would be me.”

    If convicted, the same jury will decide if Morgan should face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

    WHAT’S NEXT

    Arsenio Morgan’s testimony is expected to resume Tuesday morning, March 4. The jury could begin deliberations by the end of the week.

    http://www.pe.com/local-news/riversi...lf-defense.ece

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    RIVERSIDE: Jury deadlocks on double murder trial

    A jury deadlocked in the double-murder trial against an admitted gang member who said he shot two Riverside teens in self-defense.

    Jurors deliberated for a week but could not reach a unanimous verdict about whether Arsenio Morgan, 23, should be convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter.

    Riverside County district attorney’s officials will review the case and decide whether to retry it in front of a new jury.

    Defense attorneys said they are hoping to settle the case, possibly if Morgan agrees to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

    “We’re always amenable to taking death off the table for an 18-year-old defendant,” defense attorney Darryl Exum said, referring to Morgan’s age at the time of the shooting.

    District attorney’s officials said they would not discuss the case while it was still pending.

    Morgan is charged with two counts of murder in the Dec. 14, 2008, killing of Salvador Soliz, 18, and Ramiro Sanchez, 16, both of Riverside. Prosecutors said Morgan killed the Latinos as part of the initiation process into a Riverside gang.

    Jurors told Superior Court Judge Elisabeth Sichel they were deadlocked Friday afternoon, March 14, and Sichel declared a mistrial.

    When the judge polled the jurors, eight elected for first-degree murder, two voted for second-degree murder and two said the verdict should be manslaughter.

    There was no indication whether the jury voted on two special circumstances that would have made Morgan eligible for the death penalty.

    During the trial, Morgan testified he was going to a party on Enterprise Avenue on Riverside’s Eastside, where he was confronted by rival gang members who pulled a gun, prompting him to open fire first. He said he felt like he had to fire into the crowd or else he might be killed.

    Two years after the shooting, a jail informant told police that Morgan talked about the killing and joining the gang.

    Authorities said Soliz and Sanchez were not gang members. They were both found with knives after they were killed.

    Exum, the defense attorney, said it was a rival gang shooting, not a mission targeting innocent people at the party. He said a third of the jury agreed Morgan was acting in some degree of self-defense.

    “What showed was that this was much more complicated than a scenario of someone going to a party and opening fire,” Exum said. “You saw a reasonable jury could not agree.”

    http://blog.pe.com/breaking-news/201...-murder-trial/
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    RIVERSIDE: Killer faces death penalty in Riverside double slaying

    A newly-convicted double murderer will return to court next week so his jury can decide whether he should be executed for gunning down two teens 5-1/2 years ago at a Riverside party.

    A previous jury wasn’t able to decide whether Arsenio Devo Morgan committed cold-blooded murder — or acted in self-defense — when he fatally shot 18-year-old Salvador Soliz and 16-year-old Ramiro Sanchez, both of Riverside, during a party near UC Riverside on Dec. 14, 2008.

    So a second trial is being held.

    The new jury convicted Morgan Tuesday afternoon of two counts of premeditated murder and two special circumstances, including committing the crimes to benefit a street gang.

    Those verdicts mean the trial will enter a second phase on Monday to decide whether Morgan should be executed. If the jury rejects execution, he will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

    Prior to the murder trials, Morgan was serving a six-year sentence in Delano State Prison near Bakersfield for armed robbery.

    During his first murder trial, Morgan testified that he has spent most of his life in juvenile hall or jail after joining a Moreno Valley gang when he was 13.

    When freed after his 18th birthday, Morgan was starting a gateway program at Riverside City College and had a scholarship to UC Riverside.

    But authorities have said that he also was pledging for a Riverside African-American gang, the 1200 Blocc Cripps.

    A jailhouse informant told Riverside police two years after the double slaying at the party on Enterprise Avenue that Morgan was going to the event as part of a gang initiation that required him to kill members of a rival gang.

    Morgan denied that allegation, saying he walked to the party with a 13-year-old friend to meet girls.

    Sanchez was shot three times in the chest. Soliz was hit twice in the abdomen and once in the back of the head.

    http://blog.pe.com/breaking-news/201...ouble-slaying/

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    Prosecutor: Man deserves death because he's a menace

    RIVERSIDE - A gang member who killed two people at a Riverside house party should be sentenced to death because he's a danger to society and promotes violence, a prosecutor said today, but a defense attorney argued the defendant was young when he committed the racially motivated crime and was "not an irredeemable monster."

    "The death penalty is for the worst of the worst," defense attorney Ryan Markson told jurors in his closing statement in the penalty trial of Arsenio Devo Morgan. "What I see here is a child, not an irredeemable monster. He was barely 18 years old when this happened. He hadn't lived long enough to be the worst of the worst."

    Markson asked the six-man, six-woman jury to consider that Morgan "had no mother, no father and no real love," leading him to embrace the gang lifestyle and culminating in the murders of 18-year-old Salvador Soliz and 16- year-old Ramiro Sanchez in 2008.

    "Is my client less blame-worthy than someone who had real opportunities and was capable of making a decision not to get into this type of life? Recognize that the choices he made were warped by this glorified gang lifestyle," Markson said. "If you have any inkling of doubt, you must vote for life in prison without parole. A vote for death is a last resort."

    Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Chris Cook assailed the defense's attempt during the penalty trial to turn Morgan into a "character from a Charles Dickens novel."

    "Sure, Arsenio had it rough, but so do a lot of other foster kids," Cook said. "He did have a loving mother, even if she was only there for him until he was 14. He had a mentor who served as a positive role model. But he relished the gang life. He killed not in the heat of passion or out of anger; he did it for some absurd notion of winning fame and respect."

    Cook recited the testimony of jail inmates and Morgan's former associates, all of whom underscored the defendant's penchant for "bragging" about his crimes -- especially the murders.

    "Worse still, once he becomes one of the 'big homies,' he starts telling others how to kill," Cook said, noting that letters and recorded phone conversations revealed how Morgan would outline the best methods for fellow gang members to "kill Mexicans."

    "He's a danger to society," the prosecutor said. "The only way to stop him from victimizing people is to impose a death sentence."

    Cook also argued that Morgan never showed "any remorse or compassion" for the loved ones of those he killed.

    "During the trial, every chance he got, he turned around, made eye contact and smiled at Salvador's mother -- and not in a nice way," Cook said. "He's cold-blooded."

    The same jury considering Morgan's punishment convicted him June 10 of two counts of first-degree murder and found true special circumstance allegations hat he perpetrated the killings for the benefit of a criminal street gang and took multiple lives in the same crime. It was Morgan's second trial; a jury in March deadlocked 8-4 in favor of conviction.

    The prosecution argued that Morgan killed the victims on the night of Dec. 13, 2008, to gain rank in an all-black gang long at war with an all- Hispanic gang. Neither victim was a gang member.

    Cook said the defendant was dispatched to a birthday party at 1844 Enterprise Ave., near the UC Riverside campus, and went there with the intent to kill.

    Morgan testified that he was hoping to "meet girls," but when he and a teenage friend arrived at the house, they were stopped by seven male Hispanics, who told him he would have to be searched.

    According to the defendant, he felt "challenged" and declared his gang affiliation. He said one of his interrogators appeared to reach for a pistol, at which point the defendant said he pulled his .38 and opened fire, emptying the revolver, then running away.

    The case went cold until an inmate heard Morgan boasting of getting away with the crime and informed on him, according to testimony. By that time, Morgan had begun serving a six-year prison sentence for a home invasion robbery.

    http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/79087/

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    Mistrial in death-penalty phase of killer's trial

    Jurors could not agree on a penalty for Arsenio Devo Morgan, who faced a possible death sentence for killing two teens at a 2008 Riverside party in what authorities called a gang-initiation attack.

    The jurors, who had convicted Morgan in the slayings, were dismissed Wednesday.

    They were unable to budge from a vote of eight in favor of the death penalty and four for life in prison without parole, Riverside County district attorney spokesman John Hall said.

    Prosecutors are deciding whether to seek a second penalty trial for Morgan, Hall said Friday. The next court date is July 18 to check the status of the case.

    If the District Attorney’s Office doesn’t pursue the death penalty again, Morgan faces life in prison without parole.

    Morgan, 23, was convicted June 10 of murdering 18-year-old Salvador Soliz and 16-year-old Ramiro Sanchez, both of Riverside, during a party near UC Riverside on Dec. 14, 2008.

    It was Morgan’s second trial for the killings.

    A previous jury could not reach agreement on his guilt after hearing claims that Morgan had acted in self-defense. He said he fired into the crowd after he believed a man at the entrance to the party was reaching for a gun after Morgan refused to be searched.

    In his second trial, Morgan was found guilty in the fatal shootings of Solis and Sanchez; he also was convicted of two death-penalty special circumstances, including committing the crimes to benefit a street gang.

    Before the murder trials, Morgan was serving a six-year sentence in Delano State Prison near Bakersfield for armed robbery.

    During his first murder trial, Morgan testified that he had spent most of his life in juvenile hall or jail after joining a Moreno Valley gang when he was 13.

    When freed after his 18th birthday, Morgan was starting a gateway program at Riverside City College and had a scholarship to UC Riverside.

    But authorities have said that he also was pledging for a Riverside African-American gang, the 1200 Blocc Cripps.

    A jailhouse informant told Riverside police two years after the double slaying at the party on Enterprise Avenue that Morgan had gone to the event as part of a gang initiation that required him to kill members of a rival gang.

    Morgan denied that allegation, saying he walked to the party with a 13-year-old friend to meet girls.

    Sanchez was shot three times in the chest. Soliz was hit twice in the abdomen and once in the back of the head. Neither were gang members, prosecutors said.

    http://www.pe.com/articles/morgan-69...side-gang.html
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    RIVERSIDE: Life in prison without parole for double-murderer

    BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY / STAFF WRITER

    A man who shot and killed two teenage boys at a party in what prosecutors called a gang-initiation shooting was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

    Arsenio Devo Morgan, 23, was sentenced by Judge Edward D. Webster to serve several sentences consecutively: Two life-without-parole terms for each murder, and two 25-years-to-life sentences for use of a firearm, court records show.

    Hate-crime allegations – the victims were Hispanic and Morgan is African American – had been stricken earlier in the case.

    Morgan was convicted June 10 of murdering 18-year-old Salvador Soliz and 16-year-old Ramiro Sanchez, both of Riverside, during a party near UC Riverside on Dec. 14, 2008.

    Prosecutors said Morgan was a member of a Moreno Valley gang since he was 13, but was trying to pledge with a Riverside-based gang.

    The night of Dec. 13, Morgan got a phone call to “put work in,” an order to kill someone as a gang initiation, a prosecutor said at Morgan’s first trial.

    “This case boils down to two young men murdered in cold blood so the defendant could make bones with a gang,” Deputy District Attorney Christopher Cook told the jury during his opening statement.

    Jurors in Morgan’s first trial deadlocked; a second jury convicted him.

    But four members of that jury could not agree on whether to give Morgan the death penalty, and the district attorney decided not to pursue a second penalty-phase trial.

    Morgan admitted killing both teens, but claimed justifiable self-defense because he thought rival gang members would kill him if he didn’t start shooting first as he arrived at the party.

    “I didn’t think. I just reacted. I thought he was going to pull a gun,” Morgan had testified. “I thought if I didn’t pull mine first, it would be the end of the story.”

    Prosecutors said Soliz and Sanchez were not gang members.

    Sanchez was shot three times in the chest. Soliz was hit twice in the abdomen and once in the back of the head. Both had folding knives; one was found on the ground and one was in the pocket of one of the victims.

    Defense attorney Ryan Markson said Friday the four jurors who did not agree to the death penalty for Morgan did not buy into the defendant’s claim of self-defense.

    He said they instead considered Morgan’s age at the time of the murders, 18, and circumstances that appeared to cut off his path to escape gang life.

    After being released from juvenile custody, Morgan was starting a gateway program at Riverside City College, but mentors could not find housing for him because of his criminal record, Markson said.

    “And having nowhere to go, he went back to Eastside (of Riverside) to live with family members who were already associated with gangs in that area,” Markson said.

    Before the murder trials, Morgan was serving a six-year sentence in Delano State Prison near Bakersfield for armed robbery.

    Markson said there was no guarantee Morgan would have escaped the gang violence and crime already in his life, “but he was back in that environment, and succumbed to that gang pressure.”

    http://www.pe.com/articles/morgan-698592-gang-life.html

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