Results tagged “murder” from Inland Empire Courts

Norris Anthony Crawford was sentenced to six years in state prison for his part in the 2007 deadly shooting of 20-year-old Edward Griffin.

Under the terms of a Nov. 26 plea bargain, Crawford pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter and a special allegation. He was sentenced Dec. 22 in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Crawford received credit for 785 days, equating to more than two years, for time already served in county jail.

A jury has found Orienthal Liggins guilty in the deadly stabbing of 24-year-old Erika Munoz in front of her San Bernardino home in 2004.

The jury returned the verdict Dec. 23 in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records. Liggins, 34, represented himself during the trial.

Liggins was found guilty of murder and a special allegation for the use of a knife, court records indicate. The defendant is scheduled to return to court Feb. 13 for a court trial on his prior offenses.

Authorities found the body of Munoz, which had been stabbed numerous times, with a large kitchen knife through her chest in the front yard of a home in the 700 block of West 10th Street on Dec. 23, 2004.

Prosecutors are expected to resume their case next month against two men in the 2007 deadly shooting of a security guard at a popular Victorville nightclub.

Testimony in the trial concluded Dec. 23 for the holidays and is expected to resume Jan. 5 in Victorville Superior Court, according to court records.

Alex Romero Watson, 28, of Victorville, and Harold Kirkwood Parker, 29, of Apple Valley, face charges in the shooting death of Jacob Eric Jackson inside the Sand Bar nightclub, on Hesperia Road, in Victorville, in March 2007.

After a fight that started on a dance floor, Watson shot Jackson, 24, of Phelan, in the chest, according to authorities. Watson is also charged with shooting a Victorville man in the groin in the parking lot.

Jury selection in the trial of suspected deadly arsonist Raymond Lee Oyler is expected to begin next month in Riverside Superior Court.

Prosecutors and Oyler's lawyer, Mark McDonald, approved questionnaires for potential jurors at a hearing Dec. 19, according to court records. The court wants to ensure jurors would be available through March, records indicate.

Lawyers have already discussed trial scheduling and witnesses before the court, and both sides are set to return Jan. 12 for jury selection.

A jury found a second defendant guilty Friday in the 2005 robbery and fatal shooting of a Highland store owner and a clerk.

Jurors reached the verdicts late Thursday -- three days after hearing lawyers' closing arguments and seeing a compelling security video of the shooting, according to prosecutors.

Court personnel announced the verdicts Friday afternoon in San Bernardino Superior Court, as rows of family and friends of the victims looked on.

By Mike Cruz on December 4, 2008 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A man charged in the shovel beating and deadly shooting of 22-year-old Jerry Ramirez in 2005 was sentenced today as friends and family of the victim, some of whom wore dark-colored memorial t-shirts, looked on.

Judge Brian McCarville sentenced Edward Vincent "Vinny" Hernandez to 50 years to life in state prison during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court.

A jury found Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder and found true a special allegation for the use of a gun in the death of Ramirez, whose badly beaten body was found dumped in Waterman Canyon with seven close-range gunshot wounds to the head in November 2005.

By Mike Cruz on December 3, 2008 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A Fontana man was sentenced to 109 years to life in state prison Wednesday after a jury found him guilty in a shooting two years ago that left a 19-year-old woman dead.

A jury found Sergio Moreno, 22, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Heather Marie Montoya who was traveling with two friends in a vehicle on Citrus Avenue, in Fontana, when gunshots were fired at the car in August 2006.

Moreno was also found guilty two counts of premeditated attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle and gun charges, Deputy District Attorney Simon Umscheid said. The trial was held in Fontana Superior Court.

By Mike Cruz on December 3, 2008 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

The sentencing hearing for a man convicted in the deadly San Bernardino shooting of 20-year-old Eddie Griffin was postponed to Thursday, according to prosecutors.

Patrick Shaun Macon was set to be sentenced Tuesday in San Bernardino Superior Court, but Macon's lawyer, James Gass, was unavailable because he was in trial.

At a hearing in October, Gass told a judge that he wanted to respond in writing to a county Probation Department pre-sentencing report which recommended the maximum sentence for Macon. His client has no criminal record, Gass said.

By Mike Cruz on December 3, 2008 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

A 21-year-old man was found guilty Tuesday in the 2006 shooting death of a security guard during an altercation at a popular Victorville nightclub.

A jury found Charles Edward Bell guilty of second-degree murder and found true a special allegation for the use of a firearm in the shooting of Maurice Montez McCullough on June 4, 2006 at Club Oasis, in the 15000 block of Ramona Avenue, according to Deputy District Attorney Robert Brown.

Trial proceedings were held before Judge Erik M. Nakata in Victorville Superior Court. Jurors deliberated a little more than a day, in total, to reach the verdict, Brown said.

Lawyers in the trial for two men suspected in the robbery and deadly shooting of a Highland store owner and his clerk rested their cases this week. Proceedings resume Monday, as jurors await closing arguments.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Detienne rested his case against Christopher Turelle White and Darwin Lamont Richardson on Monday morning in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to court records.

The defendants face charges in the deaths of Steve Hall, 54, and 25-year-old Brian Gregorio at Cee Vee Liquor and Couch Potato Video, in Highland, in March 2005.

The criminal trial for a Riverside man, who was charged with the execution-style shooting death of an aspiring rapper, has been delayed by prosecutors so they continue an ongoing investigation in the case.

Officially, prosecutors dimissed charges - and then re-filed them - against Dudzai Prosper Pswatai in the death of 24-year-old Robert Raymond Mastrangelo, of San Bernardino, in Barstow Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney Shannon Faherty confirmed by telephone Wednesday.

The refiling of charges starts the case over from the beginning, Faherty explained. Pswatai is set to return to court Dec. 2. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Dec. 4, she said.

By Michael Sorba on November 23, 2008 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

The scent of his cologne wafted on the air as the woman removed clothing from each drawer of the dresser and packed it into cardboard boxes. It had been almost 2½ years since the dresser had been touched.

The memory of Curve cologne was bittersweet for Michelle Ramirez, but she needed no reminders of her son Anthony's death. That is with her always.

"He would always bug me for that cologne," she reminisced with a sad smile. "And Red Zone deodorant. He loved that."

Things have not gone well for the Ramirez family of San Bernardino since 11-year-old Anthony Ramirez was shot in the back and killed on June 21, 2006, as he played basketball with his brothers and friends on the playground of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School. His brother Joseph, then 13, was shot in the hand. A High Desert teenager is awaiting trial in Anthony's killing.

Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/25/2008 10:01:44 PM PST

The lawyer for a San Manuel tribal member who was recently sentenced in a murder conspiracy case downplayed his client's alleged violations of her probation as "small, technical issues" on Tuesday.

Stacy Barajas-Nunez was arrested Friday by sheriff's deputies on suspicion of trespassing on casino property. On Tuesday, she appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court for allegedly violating her probation.

San Manuel security contacted deputies after Barajas-Nunez was seen blocking a tribal road to pick up a friend, was in a parking lot and was at a guard station to fill out a complaint about an employee, authorities said.

Mike Cruz and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 11/22/2008 10:17:55 PM PST

A San Manuel tribal member who was sentenced to probation almost three weeks ago in a murder conspiracy case was back in jail Friday night after being arrested at the tribe's casino and could face at least a decade in state prison.

Casino security reportedly contacted sheriff's deputies after a disturbance developed involving Stacy Nunez-Barajas, who was sentenced earlier this month in San Bernardino Superior Court for her role in a murder conspiracy that was discovered by police and federal drug agents who were investigating the Mexican Mafia's drug trade in San Bernardino.

Nunez-Barajas, 26, was arrested about 9 p.m. on suspicion of trespassing at San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino and booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

She was being held without bail.

A jury found Kevin Harville guilty Friday in connection with a crash while chasing an ex-girlfriend on a local freeway, killing another motorist with his vehicle's battery in October 2006.

Harville's Ford Explorer rolled over several times on the southbound 215 Freeway, pitching its battery into opposing traffic where it struck and killed motorist 30-year-old Shawn Billings Kettlewell.

After one day's deliberation, the jury found Harville guilty of second-degree murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, according to San Bernardino Superior Court personnel.

Jurors will continue deliberations Friday in the case of a Fontana woman charged with the deadly shooting of her former boyfriend at his Rialto home in 2006, court officials confirmed.

The jury received the case of Jennifer Kay Stull on Tuesday afternoon, after lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments in Fontana Superior Court.

Stull, 25, is suspected of fatally shooting 38-year-old Michael Anthony Ribaudo, whose body was found in the Driftwood Avenue home he shared with his mother about 11:30 p.m. on June 24, 2006, according to Rialto Police.

A suspect in the deadly shooting of a 41-year-old man at a Hesperia apartment complex in 2006 was ordered held over for trial at a hearing Wednesday.

After hearing testimony from two Sheriff's sergeants, Judge John M. Tomberlin determined there was sufficient evidence to hold over defendant Omar Rafael Hunter to face charges at trial in Victorville Superior Court, according to court records.

He is scheduled to be formally arraigned Dec. 2, records indicate.

A man suspected in the deaths of two baby girls, who died two years apart in separate households, pleaded not guilty to murder charges at an arraignment Wednesday in Fontana Superior Court.

Ivan Benjamin Hancock pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of assault on a child resulting in injury or death, and one count of willfull cruelty to a child resulting in injury or death, according to Superior Court records.

Hancock returns to court Dec. 1 for a pre-preliminary hearing. Bail was set at $2 million.

The mothers of the children, who are Hancock's former girlfriends, also face similar charges.

By Mike Cruz on November 18, 2008 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Jurors began deliberating this afternoon in the case of a Fontana woman charged with the deadly shooting of her former boyfriend at his Rialto home in 2006.

Lawyers wrapped up their closing arguments today in case of Jennifer Kay Stull which is being heard in Fontana Superior Court, confirmed Deputy District Attorney Tonya Cole.

Stull, 25, is suspected of fatally shooting 38-year-old Michael Anthony Ribaudo, whose body was found in the living room of the Driftwood Avenue home he shared with his mother about 11:30 p.m. on June 24, 2006, according to Rialto Police.

By Stacia Glenn on November 18, 2008 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

(AP) -- A man who was convicted of murdering four people and sentenced to death for one of the murders has filed a notice of appeal in federal court.

Joseph Edward Duncan III was given three death sentences and three life imprisonment sentences in federal court earlier this year for the 205 kidnapping, sexual abuse and torture of 9-year-old Dylan Groene and 8-year-old Shasta Groene, and for Dylan's murder.

He was also given three life imprisonment sentences in state court for the murder of their older brother, Slade Groene, their mother, Brenda Groene, and her fiance, Mark McKenzie.