Results tagged “arteaga” from Crime & Courts

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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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.

Jurors just told Judge William Chidsey they've reached in impasse and could not agree on a verdict for Eric Sanford, 17. Chidsey declared a mistrial. Sanford is accused of killing two Carson gas station clerks during a robbery. The attorneys are waiting for a new date to come back and discuss the case. We'll have a full story in tomorrow's Daily Breeze.

Previous entries are here.

After about a week of deliberating whether or not 17-year-old Eric Sanford is guilty of murder and the special circumstances of killing during an attempted robbery, the jury told Compton Superior Court Judge William Chidsey late Monday they are stuck. Chidsey told them to keep deliberating, and they return today to do so.

The jury deciding co-defendant Adam Loza's case is on a one-week hiatus, and will resume deliberations Monday.

Sanford, Loza, 24, and another man who will go on trial later this month are charged with killing two clerks at a Carson Mobil Mart on Nov. 4, 2006.

The jury deciding 17-year-old Eric Sanford's fate is starting it's fourth day of deliberations this morning. Several times, they've heard his testimony read back from the court reporter. Prosecutors believe Sanford was the trigger man who killed clerks Eduardo Roco, 74, and Esther Arteaga, 32, during a robbery gone-wrong at a gas station mini mart on Nov. 4, 2006.

A second Compton jury deciding co-defendant 24-year-old Adam Loza's case began deliberations yesterday. Prosecutors believe Loza was in on the robbery and knew Sanford had a gun.

Both men blame the other. A third man, a friend who drove the car and allegedly handed the gun to Sanford before the murder, will go on trial when this on is over.

We're checking on the juries and will let you know when, and if, there are verdicts.

The jury deciding whether Eric Sanford, 17, is guilty or not of killing two Carson gas station employees during a pre-dawn hold-up on Nov. 4, 2006, is still out deliberating. They've been in the jury room about a day.

A second jury that will decide the case against Adam Loza, 24, heard closing arguments today. The arguments should conclude tomorrow, then they will have the case.

There are only two people who know what happened inside the Mobil Mart around 4 a.m. Nov. 4, 2006. Eric Sanford, 17, and Adam Loza, 24, admit they were there, but they're each pointing fingers at the other for the fatal shooting of clerks Eduardo Roco, 74, and Esther Arteaga, a 32-year-old mother.

Roco and Arteaga's family members sat together in court Wednesday while the defendants took turns testifying. A young woman related to Arteaga sobbed when the prosecutor showed photographs of the mininmart. It appears the woman doesn't understand English, but she came looking for answers anyway. She didn't need to understand the words to feel the pain at seeing the place where a loved-one lost her life.

As Sanford described how Loza leaned over the counter to shoot Arteaga after gunning down Roco, nearly all the family members cried. Someone whispered, "Oh my God." They comforted Roco's widow, who should have spent the day celebrating her new U.S. citizenship, but instead sat in court listening to stories of her husband's death. 

As trial got underway yesterday for two of the three people accused of killing two Carson gas station minimart clerks during a robbery, their defenses were revealed ... and they were kinda cliche. Basically, Eric Sanford, 17, and Adam Loza, 24, are pointing fingers at each other, claiming they had no idea a robbery was about to go down during the 4 a.m. stop for gas and munchies on Nov. 4, 2006.

The crime was pretty heinous and the two adult defendants could've faced lethal injection if it weren't for the fact that the third suspect is a juvenile. Despite the egregiousness of the slayings, though, the trial is pretty straightforward and will probably be wrapped-up next week. Today, the two juries will hear about a fingerprint lifted from a beef jerky on the counter that matched Sanford's, as well as see the grainy outside video, hear about the murder weapons, the arrests and maybe watch portions of the videotaped statements they each gave detectives. More investigative evidence will follow, along with the coroner's report and evidence of prior, similar crimes. There probably won't be a new story on the trial until closing arguments next week.

Family members of Eduardo Roco, 74, and Esther Arteaga, 32, were in court for the proceedings. After the juries left, they asked to take a closer look at some of the photos Deputy District Attorney Beth Widmark showed the juries - including pictures of Roco and Arteaga as they were found, bleeding on the floor, inside the cashier's booth. Families of murder victims often feel they need to see such photos because they want answers, and will endure pain just to come a wee bit closer to eradicating that horrendous "Why?" that, unfortunately, may never be answered. I think it's pretty brave to try, though.