Long Beach Crime and Courts

A private helicopter piloted by a student and flight instructor made a hard landing at the Long Beach Airport Wednesday morning, but no on was hurt, authorities said.
The helicopter, a Robinson R22, crashed from about five feet off the ground at 9:45 a.m. Both the flight instructor and the student were able to get out of the aircraft uninjured, said Long Beach Fire Capt. Jackawa Jackson.
Firefighters who responded the scene found no flames or major damage to the helicopter, but fire crews did detect a small fuel leak, Jackson said.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, he added.

 

A Long Beach Superior Court judge ordered death by lethal injection Tuesday for a Long Beach killer twice convicted for the slashing deaths of two local women.
Calling the defendant "a savage beast" and "the face of evil," Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani denied a motion to reduce Santiago Martinez Jr.'s death sentence to life in prison without parole and ordered he be sent to San Quentin State Prison to be killed by lethal injection.
Martinez was initially sentenced to death by a jury on Oct. 29. It took the panel only 30 minutes to agree that Martinez, who faced life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, should die for his crimes, several jurors said.
Martinez, now 28, was first convicted in 2005 of killing one girlfriend, then convicted last year of killing a second girlfriend when she refused to help Martinez dispose of the first victim's remains.
The first murder victim, Christina Wilkerson, 28, of Long Beach, was stabbed 20 times in the face, neck and body, then shot point blank with a .22 rifle on March 18, 2003. Martinez was sentenced to more than 50 years to life in prison for her death.
He was convicted last November for the murder of Myra Orozco, 24, of Long Beach.
Orozco was stabbed and slashed close to 30 times in the face, neck and body before Martinez pushed the mortally wounded woman from the car they were sitting in, then ran over her two times on March 30, 2003.
The jury in that case convicted Martinez of first-degree murder and the special circumstance of committing multiple murders, paving the way for the possibility of the death penalty.
That same jury, however, deadlocked 11-1 in favor of death, requiring a new jury to be empaneled for a second penalty phase that began on Oct. 5.

A 40-year-old woman who suddenly veered from the fast lane on the southbound San Diego (405) Freeway across all lanes of traffic at a high rate of speed, then plunged through a dense brush-covered embankment and plummeted about 100 feet, suffered only minor injuries Monday afternoon.
The driver was lucky not only due to her relative lack of injury, but also because several motorists saw the crash and were able to pinpoint the dense area she plunged into for first responders, Long Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Frank Hayes.
"It was so grown over that had they not seen where she went it could have taken us much longer to find her," Hayes said, noting the bushes and trees actually closed around the point where the woman's vehicle punched through the brush.
The crash occurred shortly after 3 p.m. on the south side of the freeway near Lakewood Boulevard, Hayes said.
Fire crews had to make a difficult descent down to the woman's SUV, where they found her with minor injuries. However, she was taken by paramedics to a local hospital due to the damage caused to her car and the question of whether a medical episode or fatigue may have triggered her erratic driving, Hayes said.
California Highway Patrol units also responded to the scene and re-directed traffic to clear the way for rescue crews, Hayes said.
The crash is currently under investigation, a CHP spokesperson said.
For more information and pictures of the rescue check out the LBFD's Web site at http://firechannel.org/blog/?p=1882

Police confirmed Friday that five Poly High School freshmen were arrested Tuesday for alleged sexually battery on two freshman female students during the school's lunch period.
The incident, which included boys grabbing the girls' buttocks, breasts and privates, happened near the campus store of the end of the lunch period, police and school officials said.
The five boys were also arrested at school on different days throughout the week, according to authorities.
And police are looking for any other victims who may have not come forward and who may have been attacked in other incidents at the school, officers said.
Police also said some of the youths arrested are members of the school's football team, but police did not know if they were members of the Varsity or the Junior Varsity squad.
School officials confirmed some the five are members of the Long Beach Poly Freshman football team.
Police did not identify those arrested because they are minors.

A Norwalk councilman arrested last month following an alleged domestic dispute will not face criminal charges, authorities said Friday.
"Based on the evidence that was presented, we felt that there was insufficient evidence
to file any criminal charges," said Shiara Davila- Morales of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Richard Ramirez was taken into custody on Oct. 24 at his home, booked at the Pico
Rivera Sheriff's Station and released after posting $50,000 bail, according to the Sheriff's Department. 

Three men were shot, and one killed, in a shooting late Thursday on Long Beach's Westside in what police say may be a gang-related attack.
The victims were walking in the 3600 block of Santa Fe Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. when the armed suspect walked up to them and opened fire, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
Frank Castro Jr., 19, of Long Beach was hit by multiple rounds, suffering gun shot wounds to the upperbody and torso, Pratt said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by Long Beach Fire Department paramedics.
Also struck by gunfire were two other Long Beach men walking with Carstro, one 18 and the other 40. They were both taken to a local hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
They are not being identified because they are victims of a violent crime, Pratt said.
Police said there is no suspect information available and no known motive for the slaying, but they are investigating the matter as possibly gang-related, Pratt said.
Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call LBPD Homicide Detectives William Matsubara or Todd Johnson at 562-570-7244.

A pre-trial hearing for a 57-year-old Montana man accused of killing a former Denver disc jockey in 2006 and allegedly dumping the victim's remains off the coast of Catalina Island was postponed Thursday.

Defendant Harvey Morrow is charged with first-degree murder and an enhancement that alleges the slaying was carried out for profit.

Morrow was a close friend of the victim, Steven B. Williams. In the years before Williams' killing, the two men had planned to sail the world on Morrow's 69-foot boat, authorities said.

At the time of Morrow's arrest and extradition from Great Falls, Mont., to Long Beach, Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators said it was an argument over money that likely spurred Morrow to deadly violence.

"There was approximately $1.9 million missing from Steven's account. We know that money went into Harvey Morrow's account. Steven talked to a close friend the night before and told the friend he was going to confront Harvey Morrow and tell him that he wanted his money back," said Homicide Lt. Al Grotefend.

"We believe that's what caused the actual confrontation which resulted in this murder," the lieutenant said.

Sheriff's investigators said there are no eyewitnesses and no murder weapon was ever found.

An autopsy determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to Williams' head but a coroner's examiner testified earlier this year that the wound could have been self-inflicted, or suicide, or murder; there is no way to know for certain.

The defense argued both those factors as reasons to dismiss the charge against Morrow at Morrow's preliminary hearing in January.

The court did not agree and ruled there was sufficient evidence to try Morrow for the slaying of Williams.

The victim's death made headlines in several states across the country due in large part to Williams' career as a disc jockey in Denver.

"Steven B," as he was known on the air, was half of the popular "Steven B and the Hawk" morning show on KBPI in the 1980s.

Morrow was ordered on Thursday to return to the Long Beach Superior Court on Dec. 17 for a pre-trial hearing. He remains jailed and no trial date has been set.

Gary Dennis Hunt, a contract worker who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor arson charge after accidentally touching off a wildfire on Catalina Island in 2007, was told Thursday he does not have to register as an arsonist but still may face restitution fines beyond the $4 million he was ordered to pay in August.

Hunt, 51, appeared at the Long Beach Superior Court Thursday for what was supposed to be a final restitution hearing in his case. He was ordered in August to pay restitution to the Wilson family, which lost their home in the blaze, and the Santa Catalina Island Co. and the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy, entities that monitor the island's economic and residential and ecological interests, respectively.

Two 16-year-old alleged gang members accused of gunning down a 16-year-old honor student at her high school's homecoming game will have to spend the holidays behind bars as they await their preliminary hearing.

Attorneys for the two teens, Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, just received some 350 pages of discovery from the prosecution and will require more time than originally alloted for the prelimineary hearing, said Long Beach Superior Court Judge Judith Meyer.

Meyer also noted that the court will be especially bogged down next month due to the holidays and the number of other judges who will be on vacation and said the extensive delay, while frustrating for many, is necessary to ensure the case is given proper attention.

Vinson and Davis are charged with opening fire on a crowd of hundreds of people at the Wilson HIgh School homecoming game against Poly High last month, striking and killing 16-year-old honor student Melody Ross and wounding two other people.

Both defendants have denied the special circumstance charge that includes one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and an allegation that the shooting was carried out to benefit their gang.

Both teens are being tried as adults and face the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted on all counts.

Witnesses told police Vinson fired into a crowd of roughly 400 to 500 people as they streamed out of the gates of the Wilson campus on Ximeno Avenue, between Seventh and Tenth streets.

Ross was struck in the side with a single gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Two Long Beach men -- one 18 and the other 20 -- were also shot but survived.

They are believed to be the gang rivals of Vinson and Davis and the intended targets that night, police said.

Ross, an innocent bystander, was caught in the crossfire.

Her senseless death has turned into a rally cry for many in the community to put an end to gang violence. Public memorials have drawn hundreds to thousands of people and a fund set up in her name has received donations from concerned citizens in Long Beach and beyond.

A Long Beach killer twice convicted for the slashing deaths of two local women and condemned to death last month was scheduled for formal sentencing today, but will now be sentenced on Tuesday.
Santiago Martinez Jr.  was sentenced to death by a jury on Oct. 29. It took the panel only 30 minutes to agree that Martinez, who faced life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, should die for his crimes.
Martinez, now 28, was first convicted in 2005 of killing one girlfriend, then convicted last year of killing a second girlfriend when she refused to help Martinez dispose of the first victim's remains.

The first murder victim, Christina Wilkerson, 28, of Long Beach, was stabbed 20 times in the face, neck and body, then shot point blank with a .22 rifle on March 18, 2003. Martinez was sentenced to more than 50 years to life in prison for her death.

He was convicted last November for the murder of Myra Orozco, 24, of Long Beach.

Orozco was stabbed and slashed close to 30 times in the face, neck and body before Martinez pushed the mortally wounded woman from the car they were sitting in, then ran over her on March 30, 2003.

The jury in that case convicted Martinez of first degree murder and the special circumstance of committing multiple murders, paving the way for the possibility of the death penalty.

That same jury, however, deadlocked 11-to-1 in favor of death, requiring a new jury to be empaneled for a second penalty phase that began Oct. 5

Martinez's formal sentencing, to be carried out by Judge Joan Comparet-Casani, was scheduled for today. But because the Los Angeles County Probation Department had not finished its report on Martinez, and its recommendation, formal sentencing was postponed until 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Dept. 10.