Results matching “arteaga roco” from Crime & Courts

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....

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 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.

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.