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Thread: Louis Mitchell, Jr. - California Death Row

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    Louis Mitchell, Jr. - California Death Row


    Louis Mitchell, Jr.


    Facts of the Crime:

    Mitchell, a gang member, was convicted of murdering three men and injuring three others on August 5, 2005. Mitchell killed Patrick Mawikere, 20, and Mario Lopez, 59, at a car dealership, then went to an apartment complex to kill the third victim, Susano Torres, 16. Defense did not argue Mitchell committed the shootings at the dealership, but did present rebuttal witnesses for the apartment complex shootings. During sentencing defense argued Mitchell had a troubled background and PCP in his system that prevented him from knowing right and wrong. Defense counsel also claimed the all white jury would be conducting “whitey’s justice” if they presented a death sentence.

    Mitchell was sentenced to death on October 4, 2006 in San Bernardino County.

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Mitchell was appointed counsel to represent him on direct appeal on June 24, 2010.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S147335

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On July 3, 2014, Mitchell filed his opening brief before the California Supreme Court.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S147335

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Mitchell's direct appeal has been fully briefed before the California Supreme Court since September 26, 2016.

    http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.g...doc_no=S147335

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On April 3, 2019, oral argument will be heard in Mitchell's direct appeal before the California Supreme Court.

    https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/SAPR319A.pdf

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    State Supreme Court upholds conviction, death sentence in Rialto man’s 2005 shooting spree

    Three people died and three were wounded in attacks at Colton car dealership and a San Bernardino apartment complex

    By Richard K. Deatley
    San Bernardino County Sun

    A Rialto man’s conviction and death sentence for a 2005 shooting spree that left three people dead and three others wounded was upheld Monday by the California Supreme Court.

    Louis Mitchell Jr., now 49, was sentenced in 2006 for an attack the year before that killed two employees at a Colton auto dealership and left two wounded. A shooting later that same day at an apartment complex in San Bernardino killed a 16-year-old girl and wounded her brother.

    Mitchell was arrested the next day after being shot and wounded in the leg by a San Bernardino police officer that he was advancing on. The officer was sent to an apartment house after Mitchell had started firing his gun into the air — that complex was different than the one where the fatal shooting took place the day before.

    The 7-0 opinion by Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu found one trial error: A failure by the judge to tell jurors in the penalty phase that one witness had a prior felony conviction.

    But the ruling said the error was “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt,” and called the witness’s testimony “not controversial.”

    The shootings started the afternoon of Aug. 8, 2005 because Mitchell was angry about a compact truck purchase his girlfriend had made earlier in the day, investigators said.

    The truck had broken down even before the deal was complete, but the girlfriend agreed to take a loaner while the dealership repaired the truck, according to testimony.

    Mitchell had left California Auto Specialist in Colton before his girlfriend negotiated the purchase but complained in a phone call to another woman he knew that the couple had been “screwed over” in the car deal.

    When he returned to the dealership later that day, he pulled a gun out of his pants pocket and fatally shot employees Patrick Mawikere, 20, and Mario Lopez, 59.

    Two others were wounded. One of them, already shot in the arm, suffered deep gashes on his knees after diving through a glass window to escape.

    Authorities were uncertain about why Mitchell next went to the apartment complex in San Bernardino and fatally shot Susano Torres, 16, and wounded Susano’s brother, Armando.

    Mitchell had previously lived at the apartment building and continued to visit it. The brother and sister knew Mitchell from those visits, but did not have any problems with him, the ruling Monday noted.

    Experts testified that Mitchell was under the influence of PCP at the time of the incidents. While he had handed off his gun on Aug. 9 before the officer arrived at the San Bernardino apartment building, he told the officer as he advanced on him, “Come on, you a cop, you’re supposed to kill me,” according to the court record.

    In addition to being sentenced to death, Mitchell was additionally sentenced to 150 years to life in prison on his convictions of three counts of attempted first-degree murder, with a firearm enhancement.

    https://www.sbsun.com/2019/06/24/sta...hooting-spree/
    "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

  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On May 7, 2019, Mitchell filed a habeas petition before the California Supreme Court.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....9SICAgCg%3D%3D

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Mitchell's petition for a writ of certiorari on direct appeal.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of California
    Case Numbers: (S147335)
    Decision Date: June 24, 2019
    Rehearing Denied: August 28, 2019

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-7429.html

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