Recently in Sanford, Loza, Perez Category

Just as the sentencing hearing for Adam Loza was winding down, Compton Superior Court Judge William Chidsey Jr. told Loza that he knew what he must be feeling, and there's nothing he could say to make him feel better about his future behind bars for the rest of his life. "I'm not sure whether you're a man of spirit or beliefs, but sometimes, that will help you get through things," Chidsey said.

He suggested Loza find a way to make good use of his time behind bars by finding a way to better himself, his fellow inmates or society. "You have a life with significant restrictions," Chidsey said. "It's up to you to decide what you want to do with it.

"I hope you can use your time on Earth in a beneficial way," Chidsey added.

Loza, who has at least one child, didn't show any emotion. But his family members cried and hugged in the hallway when the hearing was over.

As did the family members of Esther Arteaga and Eduardo Roco.

Look for a complete story soon on www.dailybreeze.com

 

Denise reports from a Compton courtroom that Adam Loza, 25,  one of three men convicted of killing two Carson gas station workers in 2006 , was sentenced today to two terms of life in prison without parole.

Loza killed Eduardo Roco, 74, of Carson and Esther Arteaga, 32, of Wilmington during a robbery at the Mobil Mart near 222nd Street and Avalon Boulevard.

The other men previously received 50 years to life in prison.

Story coming.

Julio Perez and Eric Sanford were each sentenced today to 50 years to life in prison by a Compton Superior Court judge who said she didn't buy their excuses.

Sanford and Perez were two of three people convicted for killing service station workers Eduardo Roco and Esther Arteaga on Nov. 4, 2006.

Denise is on her way back from court and will have a story up soon.

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I'll never forget Esther Arteaga's young daughter looking up at me a few days after her mother was killed and saying, "I miss my mommy." It was heartbreaking and is one of those things that has stuck in my brain.

Prosecutors have now convicted two more men for killing Arteaga and Eduardo Roco, 74, a retired military man working the overnight shift at a Carson gas station.

This just came in from the District Attorney's Office:

A 24-year-old Los Angeles man and his teenage co-defendant were convicted of murder today in the 2006 fatal shootings of two gas station employees in Carson.
 
Deputy District Attorney Mia Wood of Compton Branch Office, who took the verdict, said jurors deliberated for eight days before finding Julio Perez guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and guilty of three counts of attempted robbery.

Co-defendant Eric Elmo Sanford, 17, of Los Angeles also was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and guilty of two counts of attempted robbery.

Judge John T. Doyle of Compton Superior Court ordered the defendants back for sentencing on Sept. 18. The defendants each face a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

This was a retrial for Sanford, who was tried earlier this year with a third defendant, Adam Loza, 25. Loza of Los Angeles was convicted May 19 of two counts of first-degree murder and attempted robbery. Jurors deadlocked on a verdict for Sanford at the time. Loza will be sentenced on Aug. 28.

On Nov. 4, 2006, Eduardo Roco, 74, of Carson, and Esther Arteaga, 32, of Wilmington, were shot to death in a pre-dawn attempted robbery of a gas station in Carson.

The three defendants were arrested days later and have remained in custody without bail.

Denise is working on a story....

Waiting for verdicts in high profile, serious cases makes me edgy. Everytime the phone rings, I jump a bit. Since you never know when they're gonna come, you're always worried about missing them.

The jury deliberating on the Carson double-murder case has now begun its sixth day of discussions. They are deciding whether or not Eric Sanford and Julio Perez were at all involved in the deaths of two gas station clerks during a pre-dawn attempted robbery on Nov. 6, 2006.

Previous items are here.

A Torrance jury began deliberations yesterday afternoon in the capital murder case against Barry Mosley, who is accused of three murders in two different Athens-area incidents in 1999 and 2000. He's also charged with raping a young girl, who survived and testified against him, as well as a host of other allegations.

Click here for previous entries on the Mosley case.

I'll keep you posted...

A Compton Superior Court jury is expected to begin deliberations tomorrow on special circumstances murder charges against Julio Perez and Eric Sanford, accused of killing two Carson gas station clerks during an attempted robbery in 2003. We'll keep you updated on the outcome.

The second trial to come from the Nov. 4, 2006, slaying of Esther Arteaga, 32, and Eduardo Roco, 74, is winding down in Compton Superior Court. Today, Julio Perez, the alleged get-away driver, was on the stand. The gist of his defense is that he knew co-defendants Eric Sanford and Adam Loza were going into the mini mart to steal beer ... he just didn't know anybody was going to use a gun to rob the clerks of cash in the register. The criminals took nothing in that predawn hold-up, except two innocent people's lives.

We'll have a full report in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.

The first trial ended with an acquittal for Eric Sanford. Now he's on trial again with a second co-defendant, Julio Perez. Testimony gets underway today in a Compton courtroom. We'll keep you updated!

Adam Loza is, so far, the only one of three defendants to be convicted in the slaying of two gas station clerks during a 2006 attempted robbery. He was scheduled to be sentenced today, but we've been told the hearing will be postponed. His co-defendants, Eric Sanford and Julio Perez, are scheduled to appear tomorrow for a pretrial hearing.

Sanford and Loza were tried together earlier this year in Compton Superior Court, but the jury deadlocked on charges against Sanford.

Check out our Court Tracker in the next few days for updates in this and other South Bay cases.

The jury deliberating Adam Loza's case returned after a one-week hiatus Monday, and took about a half day to find him guilty of two counts of murder with the special allegation of killing during an attempted robbery, and attempted robbery. A separate jury hung on the same charges last week for co-defendant Eric Sanford, 17.

Loza, 24, will return to court July 24 for sentencing, when he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. We'll have the complete story in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.