NORWALK — A judge reduced a Pico Rivera man’s murder conviction to voluntary manslaughter Thursday and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, officials said.
A jury last month convicted Robert Redd, 53, of second-degree murder for fatally shooting 19-year-old Joseph Rubalcaba of Pico Rivera and burying his body in a shallow grave in Redd’s backyard in the 8500 block of Pico Vista Road in July of 2011, according to Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Brandon Wong. The jury also found true three sentence-enhancing special allegations related to using a gun in the crime.
He was expected to be sentenced to 40 years to life in prison at Thursday’s sentencing, the prosecutor added.
But in a highly unusual legal maneuver, Norwalk Superior Court Judge Raul Sahagun exercised his discretion to reduce the charge to voluntary manslaughter and sentenced Redd to 10 years in prison, Wong said. The maximum sentence he could have received under the law with a voluntary manslaughter conviction and the special allegations was 21 years in prison.
Wong said he, as well as Rubalcaba’s family members, were disappointed by the decision.
“I believe the jury has spoken based on the evidence, and they said it was second-(degree murder),” he said. “I disagree with the court, but it’s within the court’s discretion.”
Rubalcaba’s aunt, Melinda Rodriguez, said the entire family was stunned and upset over Thursday’s court proceedings.
“We are in awe and shock and disbelief of why the judge would do this. Why would he go against the jury?” she said. “The whole family is distraught right now. We just can’t believe it.”
“It’s a slap in the face, not only to us, but to the jurors,” Rodriguez said. “The whole family feels like justice wasn’t served. It’s like he was murdered all over again today.”
Rubalcaba’s body was found by family members July 20, 2011, in a shallow grave in the backyard of Redd’s home, where the young man was known to frequent, officials said. Rubalcaba had been staying with red off and on for about two months leading up to his death.
The family members had gone looking for Rubalcaba, after he went missing in the days before his body was found.
Redd maintained that he shot Rubalcaba because the young man was a gang member who had been threatening to kill him, but Wong argued that Redd shot the Rubalcaba to death as the result of a personal dispute.
Though the jury apparently rejected the self-defense argument made by Redd’s attorney in returning a second-degree murder conviction, Judge Sahagun apparently disagreed, Wong said.
“He indicated that he believed the defendant actually was in fear for his life, though that belief was unreasonable,” Wong said.
The defense attorney, listed as Christine Rodriguez of the Office of the Los Angeles County Public Defender, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Wong said the court proceedings Thursday came as a surprise to him.
In his more than 12 years as a prosecutor, he said, “I have not personally, in my experience, heard or seen a court reduce a murder conviction to manslaughter.”
Rodriguez said she found Redd’s self defense argument unbelievable.
If someone justly kills someone else in self defense, “Your first reaction is going to be to call 9-1-1, not to keep the body for a day or days and bury it in the backyard,” she said. “It takes a sick mind to do that — a murderer — and that’s what he is.”
The aunt said she believed the judge reduced Redd’s charge largely because the victim, Rubalcaba, had gang ties.
Rubalcaba is survived by his mother, grandmother, two brothers and a sister, Rodriguez said.
“Like I told Mr. Redd — whatever his name is: Joseph’s never going to be able to get married, have children, have a chance to make good things happen in his life,” Rodriguez said. “You cut it down. You shot him in the head.”
