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An appellate panel Thursday upheld the murder conviction of a woman who stabbed her estranged husband more than 30 times and killed the family’s dog in a separate attack at their home in Walnut.

The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the trial of Socorro Mora, who was found guilty of second-degree murder and corporal injury to a spouse for the Oct. 19, 2011, stabbing death of her 47-year-old estranged husband.

She was also convicted of cruelty to an animal involving the family’s dog, Snowflake, found dead from puncture wounds in a flower bed in their backyard in September 2011.

George Mora had obtained a restraining order that required his estranged wife to move from the family’s home, the appellate court panel noted in its 11-page ruling.

Socorro Mora — who called 911 to report a domestic disturbance after stabbing her spouse — was found with about 20 stab wounds in the front yard outside the home.

She said during the 911 call that she had stabbed her husband after he attacked her, but a crime scene reconstruction expert opined that many of the woman’s injuries were consistent with self-inflicted wounds or wounds inflicted by accident.

“The trial court properly refused to instruct regarding voluntary manslaughter because there is insufficient evidence that George provoked Socorro to act from a heat of passion,” the justices found.

“Circumstantial evidence of Socorro’s mental state implies that her actions were deliberate and calculated; she breached the French doors leading to the backyard, stabbed George 31 times, including after his death, staged the kitchen to make it appear that a fight had occurred, and then stabbed herself either accidentally or intentionally after George’s death. The position of the serrated knife on the back of George’s wrist suggests that Socorro planted it in that position.”

The appellate court panel added that “the evidence suggests that George endured Socorro’s relentless telephone calls and physical attacks in order to protect his children and provide them with a stable parent,” noting that there was no evidence to back up her suspicion that he was involved in a relationship with a woman with whom he had worked.

Mora was sentenced in September 2014 to 20 years and eight months to life in state prison.

–City News Service

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A 25-year-old man suspected of stabbing his mother in an attack in Boyle Heights that left the woman hospitalized was being held Friday in lieu of $1 million bail.

Angel Hernandez was arrested about 10:45 a.m. Thursday in the area of Huntington Drive and Soto Street in El Sereno by detectives on their way back to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollenbeck Station after a hospital interview with the victim, officials said.

The stabbing occurred about 12:10 a.m. Monday in the 3700 block of Lee Street, where the victim lived with her son, according to the LAPD.

“The mother was upset with her son for an incident that occurred earlier in the day,” according to a police statement. “Hernandez’s sister heard the mother pleading with her son, that what he was doing wasn’t necessary and to just leave.

“Hernandez’s sister then heard what sounded like Hernandez physically assaulting their mother. Looking through a kitchen window, she saw her brother retrieve a large kitchen knife.”

When officers arrived at the home, they found the mother with multiple stab wounds to her neck, arms and legs, but Hernandez had fled the scene, police said.

The woman was taken to a hospital, where she remains in serious but stable condition, according to the LAPD.

The lead detective on the case spotted Hernandez walking in El Sereno and called for backup because of the violent nature of the knife attack, police said. Hernandez was booked on suspicion of attempted murder.

No court date was immediately set for Hernandez’s arraignment.

–City News Service

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Suge Knight. Photo by TheMcShark/CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A judge Friday set an Aug. 1 trial date for former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, who is charged with murdering one man and injuring another with his pickup truck in Compton last year.

When Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen asked Knight if the trial date was all right with him, Knight responded, “I don’t have a trial attorney yet.”

He later added, “I’m ready, your honor.”

Attorneys estimated that testimony in the trial would last about two weeks.

Defense attorney Thaddeus J. Culpepper said outside court, “We want to assemble a trial team a la O.J. Simpson,” referring to the former football star who was acquitted of double-murder charges following a high-profile, televised trial.

Culpepper said the defense hopes to have its trial team in place within a couple of weeks.

Knight has had a string of lawyers since his arrest in January 2015. High-profile attorney Thomas Mesereau — who successfully defended singer Michael Jackson against child molestation charges — left Knight’s case last month.

Knight, 50, is charged with one count each of murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run for allegedly killing 55-year-old Terry Carter and injuring Cle “Bone” Sloan on Jan. 29, 2015, with his pickup truck in the parking lot of Tam’s Burgers in the 1200 block of West Rosecrans Avenue.

He is awaiting trial separately along with comedian Micah “Katt” Williams in a case charging the two with stealing a camera from a female paparazzo in September 2014.

—City News Service

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A Sylmar man convicted of fatally shooting his wife at their home was sentenced Friday to 35 years to life in state prison.

Albino Topete Morales, 60, believed his 45-year-old spouse, Maria, was cheating on him, even though he had no proof, according to testimony presented at his trial.

The two had been married for 25 years.

The couple’s son called 911 after hearing gunfire inside the home on Aug. 11, 2014.

Along with murder, Morales was convicted of shooting at an inhabited dwelling for firing a bullet that went into his neighbors’ house and whizzed over their heads as they watched TV, according to Deputy District Attorney Ani Bailey.

–City News Service

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A state appeals court panel Friday upheld a man’s murder conviction for gunning down the owner of a water company during a dispute over one of the firm’s trucks blocking access on the dirt road to his home.

The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that jurors in Scott Russell Shipley’s trial in Lancaster should have been instructed on involuntary manslaughter.

Jurors were instructed on first-degree murder, second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, and found Shipley guilty in 2014 of second-degree murder for the May 15, 2013, shooting death of Christopher Demyen, the 39-year-old owner of Acton Water Co.

Shipley was driving his daughter home when he saw one of the company’s water trucks parked in front of a neighbor’s house to fill a pool and was unable to drive his vehicle past the truck, the appellate court panel noted in its 26-page ruling.

Shipley left his vehicle in the middle of the road, walked home with his daughter and then returned to the scene.

Demyen — who had arrived to talk to Shipley after he called to complain about the truck — got into an argument with the defendant that led to a fight, during which Shipley pulled out his gun and shot Demyen in the chest.

“… Defendant’s actions were neither unintentional nor merely negligent. Rather, they were clearly intentional and there was overwhelming evidence of his conscious disregard for Demyen’s life … The record contains no evidence suggesting that defendant did not fully appreciate the risk of his actions.,” the appellate court justices ruled.

Shipley is serving a 40-year-to-life term in state prison.

–City News Service

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A man who killed a transgender woman in Baldwin Park was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in state prison.

Stephen Justin Gonzales, 30, was found guilty Jan. 29 of first-degree murder in the slaying of Vanhxay Inthichack, 26, of Baldwin Park, who was found dead on Sept. 9, 2013, in the 13900 block of Francisquito Avenue.

The coroner’s office listed Inthichack’s cause of death as multiple injuries.

Along with the murder charge, jurors convicted the defendant of petty theft, but rejected a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery.

–City News Service

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A 45-year-old man who shot his live-in girlfriend twice in the head, then shot himself before retreating to the Porter Ranch home they shared, pleaded no contest Wednesday to second-degree murder.

Joseph Defalco also admitted that he used a firearm in the June 14, 2013, killing of Ann Risa Suggs, 52, said Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer.

Defalco shot the victim, then himself, before retreating to their home in the 19000 block of Kenya Street, according to the prosecutor. He was arrested after a standoff that lasted more than five hours, Kramer said.

Defalco and Suggs had dated for about 20 years and had lived together for more than two years, according to court testimony.

Defalco is facing a 25-year-to-life term, with sentencing set for Monday at the San Fernando courthouse.

–City News Service

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Monterey Park police cruiser. Image via code2high.com

A man wanted on suspicion of attempted murder was wounded Wednesday in an officer-involved shooting in the East Los Angeles area.

The shooting occurred about 9:20 a.m. near Woods Avenue and Fourth Street, and the man was taken to a hospital, said Monterey Park police Lt. Carrie Mazelin. Police said he is expected to survive.

No officers were hurt, Mazelin said, adding that the suspect “was wanted for an attempted murder over the weekend in Monterey Park.”

Details of the crime for which the suspect was being sought were not immediately released by police, but some reports from the scene indicated that it was a shooting at a convenience store. ABC7 reported that the suspect was a 34-year-old documented gang member wanted for the attempted murder of an off- duty Marine in Monterey Park.

The officer-involved shooting occurred about a block away from Garfield High School, but classes were not affected.

The suspect allegedly drew a weapon on police while on a bicycle. Video from the scene showed a patrol car’s windshield riddled with bullets.

The shooting occurred in unincorporated county area just south of Monterey Park. Sheriff’s homicide detectives were assisting Monterey Park police in the investigation.

–City News Service

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Garden Grove Police Department cruiser. Photo via soupehe.com

A 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with a gang-related shooting in Garden Grove in October that left one teenager dead and a second wounded, police said Wednesday.

Adrian Cruz De La Riva of Santa Ana was located Tuesday when a Garden Grove Police Department SWAT team served a search warrant, Lt. Bob Bogue said.

De La Riva was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Orange County Jail for murder, Bogue said.

No weapon was recovered.

Detectives served a search warrant at 7 a.m. Tuesday at an apartment in the 600 block of West Washington Ave. in Santa Ana, Bogue said.

Officers were called at 2:18 p.m. Oct. 2 to the 12600 block of Keel Street when gunshots rang out, wounding 16- and 17-year-old boys, according to Garden Grove police.

One victim was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was rushed to an area hospital for “emergency treatment,” Lt. Thomas DaRe said.

The surviving victim suffered a gunshot wound to an “upper extremity,” DaRe said.

–City News Service

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A man was beaten to death Sunday in Lawndale.

The attack was in the 4500 block of West 166th Street at 11:49 a.m., said Deputy Sara Rodriguez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. That location is two blocks west of Hawthorne Boulevard and five blocks south of the San Diego (405) Freeway.

Paramedics rushed the victim to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Rodriguez said.

Sheriff’s homicide detectives asked anyone with any information regarding the attack to call them at (323) 890-5500.

–City News Service

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UCLA. Photo by John Schreiber.

Two young men were ordered Monday to stand trial for the stabbing death of a 21-year-old UCLA student whose body was discovered after a fire at her Westwood apartment last year.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Mark Zuckman found sufficient evidence after a three-day hearing to require Alberto Hinojosa Medina and Eric Marquez, both 22, to stand trial on a murder charge stemming from the Sept. 21 death of Andrea DelVesco, according to Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila.

The two are also charged with two counts of first-degree burglary with a person present involving DelVesco’s apartment and another apartment in the same block.

Medina is facing a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a burglary. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Medina, who faces an allegation that he personally used a knife in the commission of the crime.

Medina is also charged with one felony count each of arson of an inhabited structure or property and cruelty to an animal involving DelVesco’s Chihuahua-terrier mix, who was euthanized as a result of his injuries from the fire, according to the prosecutor.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully asked the court commissioner to dismiss the charges against their clients.

Medina’s attorney, Dmitry Gorin, said after the hearing that his client has denied being involved in the killing and that there is no direct evidence that Medina was in DelVesco’s house at the time she was killed.

Medina and Marquez — who were arrested in late September — remain jailed and are due back in court March 28 for arraignment at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles.

DelVesco’s body was found inside her apartment by firefighters.

The 21-year-old Austin, Texas, woman — a member of the Pi Beta Phi — was entering her fourth year at UCLA studying psychology and Spanish.

The two men were linked to DelVesco’s death through forensic evidence collected at the scene of the Sept. 21 fire in the 10900 block of Roebling Street, as well as witness statements, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Medina was arrested in Fresno, and Marquez was taken into custody near his apartment in Westwood, according to police.

At the time, Marquez was a fifth-year undergraduate student at UCLA, majoring in biology, according to UCLA. Medina was a Fresno State University student at the time, according to media reports.

–City News Service

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Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

A 23-year-old man is scheduled to be arraigned next month for allegedly using a shank in Orange County jail to slash the face of an informant who cooperated with prosecutors in an attempted murder case against him.

Douglas Steven Lopez is charged with assault with a deadly weapon and threatening a witness with sentencing enhancements for using a deadly weapon and gang activity. His arraignment is set for April 1.

On June 24, 2013, Lopez tried to rob an unemployed, middle-aged man in his late 40s at Memorial Park in Santa Ana, according to Deputy District Attorney Chris Alex. The victim was targeted for extortion and robbery because Lopez’s gang figured he had some cash, Alex said.

A good Samaritan who frequented the park came to the victim’s aid, and Lopez shot him two inches below his heart, but he survived, Alex said.

The attempted robbery victim and good Samaritan knew their attacker, which led police to Lopez, Alex said.

Lopez was convicted in December 2014 of attempted murder, attempted robbery and attempted extortion with multiple sentencing enhancements for using a gun and committing a crime for the benefit of a gang.

A man arrested along with Lopez two weeks after the crime decided to cooperate with investigators and told them Lopez had confessed to him about the shooting, Alex said.

That man did not testify against Lopez during his trial, but because Alex was required to turn over all of his evidence to defense attorneys by law, the defendant somehow learned the identity of his accuser, the prosecutor said.

On April 21, 2015, just before Lopez was going to be put on a bus to prison to serve a roughly 70-years-to-life sentence, he walked into the jail’s “chow hall” and stabbed the informant in the face, Alex said. The informant sustained superficial wounds, the prosecutor said.

The case shows the dangers to informants when evidence is revealed in the course of legal proceedings, Alex said.

“This stabbing illustrates the reality that those who cooperate with law enforcement to implicate gang members risk becoming the target of violent retaliation,” Alex said. “It is therefore necessary that their identities be protected unless, as was the case here, disclosure is constitutionally mandated.”

–City News Service

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Orange County Superior Court. Photo by John Schreiber

A jury Thursday deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquitting a man accused in a Santa Ana murder that occurred nine years ago, forcing a judge to declare a mistrial.

It was the second trial for 26-year-old Eric Vasquez Ortiz. He was convicted on Jan. 28, 2014, of first-degree murder and attempted murder, with sentencing enhancements for gang activity and the vicarious discharge of a weapon, but a judge last November granted him a new trial based on allegations of jail informant misconduct.

Ortiz’s attorney, Rudy Loewenstein, sought a new trial for his client after allegations of widespread outrageous governmental misconduct were lodged in the case of Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history.

Ortiz had been convicted in his first trial in part based on the testimony of an informant who claimed Ortiz confessed to the crimes, but the informant was not a witness in the retrial.

Jurors deliberated for two days before they declared they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Loewenstein said he does not believe his client ever confessed to informant Donald Geary. Excluding Geary from the retrial made a big difference, the attorney said.

The defense attorney argued that witness descriptions of the killers did not match Ortiz, who he said had an alibi.

“… But even without the alibi there was plenty of evidence to establish reasonable doubt based on the descriptions of eyewitnesses,” Loewenstein said.

Co-defendant Sergio Cabezas, who testified against Ortiz, was given a plea deal in 2012 that dropped the murder and attempted murder charges in favor of a voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Loewenstein said he believed jurors saw Cabezas’ testimony as “self- serving.”

“I tried this case a whodunnit and, really, it wasn’t Eric,” Loewenstein said.

Both sides return to court April 19 for a hearing on how to proceed with the case. Loewenstein said he would push to have the charges dismissed.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King granted new trial motion, after ruling in November that Ortiz couldn’t get a fair hearing on his allegations of misconduct because four sheriff’s deputies invoked their Fifth Amendment right against incrimination during an evidentiary hearing.

Loewenstein argued the government committed a so-called Massiah violation, meaning inmate Donald Geary was working as an informant for authorities when he illegally got Ortiz, who was represented by an attorney, to make statements implicating himself in the Oct. 23, 2006, shooting.

King concluded “there was no way for us to know” if Geary was working for the government “before the (first trial) and it most probably made a difference to the jury and the result,” Loewenstein said.

Former Orange County Deputy District Attorney Erik Petersen prosecuted Ortiz in the 2014 trial. Many of his cases came under scrutiny amid allegations of widespread, institutionalized government misconduct in the use of jailhouse informants.

Ortiz was accused of driving into a rival gang territory and participating in the fatal shooting of 51-year-old Emeterio Adame, who was talking to another man who his assailants figured was a rival gang member. The other man, who was in a wheelchair, was also injured in the shooting.

Loewenstein said Adame’s son was murdered only a few weeks before the shooting.

–City News Service

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Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

A Compton man was convicted Monday of second-degree murder and assault in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 13-month-old son, who died after being hospitalized for nearly three weeks.

Jurors deliberated for less than a day before convicting 24-year-old Rodrigo Hernandez of one count each of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death.

Hernandez faces up to 25 years to life behind bars, with sentencing set for May 11.

Prosecutors said Hernandez was watching the infant on June 7, 2015, while the boy’s mother was in another room of her apartment.

Family members told the woman at some point that her son was behaving strangely. When she went to check on him, the toddler began to have seizures and bruises began showing on his body, according to prosecutors.

Paramedics were called and the boy was hospitalized. A coroner’s official testified that the boy died on June 26, 2015, from blunt force trauma to his abdomen.

— Wire reports 

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A 75-year-old man accused in the oldest cold-case homicide prosecution in Orange County history was freed of murder charges Tuesday because it was deemed he was not able to help in his defense.

Charles Edward Faith was charged in 2007 with the Feb. 16, 1964, killing of Christine Wariner in Santa Ana.

Efforts have been made since the beginning of 2015 to get Faith to finally go to trial on the murder, but his health issues made that impossible, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin.

“He’s not capable of participating” in his defense, Yellin told City News Service.

Faith was placed under the care of the Orange County Public Guardian’s Office. That could not happen with the pending criminal charge, so that was dismissed.

“My understanding is he’s not aware of what’s going on most of the time,” Yellin said. “I don’t know if there’s an official diagnosis. He’s had strokes. He’s got myriad medical things that impacted him.”

Wariner’s daughter, Christina Lonzo, was aware that the murder charge would be dismissed, Yellin said.

“I think she’s as OK with it as she can get,” Yellin said. “She thinks time has robbed her of justice, but there was literally nothing else we could do.”

Faith will be placed in “an appropriate secure facility,” Yellin said.

The murder victim’s daughter told City News Service in January 2015 that she would approve if prosecutors reached a plea deal with Faith and freed him from custody.

“He’s done seven years,” she said at the time. “They could reduce the charges, have him plead to a lesser charge, give him time served, open the door and push him out and make him take care of himself, which he can’t do,” said Lonzo.

Faith was being cared for in a jail ward of an area hospital, according to Yellin.

Orange County Superior Court Judge John Conley found there was enough evidence in January 2009 for Faith to stand trial.

The body of the victim, the manager of the California Hotel, which was at 601 Main St. in Santa Ana, was found partially clothed in her apartment by a tenant who was attempting to pay rent, Yellin said.

“It was obvious she was sexually assaulted and there was a pile of dirt and pieces of a planter in her face,” Yellin said.

Investigators found four bloody fingerprints on top of Wariner’s door, indicating the killer was attempting to avoid leaving evidence on the door knob, Yellin said.

Authorities could not find a match for the fingerprints and the case went cold. About 40 years later, the evidence was run through a database automatically and came back with a match to Faith, who had been arrested for suspicion of drunken driving a couple of years earlier, Yellin said.

The fingerprint match, which was made in February 2002, was the principal forensic evidence because the semen found in the victim’s body had deteriorated too much for a DNA analysis, Yellin said.

Faith was charged with Wariner’s murder in 2007 after cold case detectives interviewed him twice.

During the interview with detectives, Faith allegedly said he had a split personality and that it was his “friend” Doug that killed the victim, Yellin said.

“I told them people with a split personality don’t know they have another identity so he’s (lying),” Yellin said.

“He basically tells a story about how he was in her apartment and his friend Doug was with him and at some point he was unconscious from a blow to the head and when he wakes up she’s in this condition and he leaves. It turns out Doug is invisible and he’s always with him.”

Prosecutors could refile a murder charge against Faith, but given his state of mind it is unlikely he will ever be healthy enough to stand trial, Yellin said.

–City News Service

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LAPD patch. Photo by MyNewsLA.com

A motorist, getting out his vehicle, was shot and killed Sunday by a gunman in South Los Angeles.

The shooting attack occurred about 2:40 a.m. near 39th Street and Normandie Avenue, according to Officer Norma Eisenman of the LAPD’s Media Relations Section.

Paramedics rushed the motorist to an area hospital, where he was died from his injuries, Eisenman said. The victim was a man, about 31 years old, she said.

No other information was immediately available.

–City News Service

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Los Angeles Sheriff‘s homicide detectives were trying to determine a motive Friday behind an apparent murder-suicide that left a husband and wife dead inside a home near Whittier.

Norwalk Station deputies went to a home in the 13500 block of Lanning Drive in the unincorporated South Whittier area about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Deputy Ryan Rouzan.

The deputies had been sent to check on the welfare of the two people, Rouzan said. When they arrived at the home, the deputies were met by a family friend who told them she had not seen the married couple in a few days. That friend gave deputies a key to get into the house.

When the deputies went inside they found the husband laying on the bed with a gunshot wound to his chest. A shotgun was recovered near his body, Rouzan continued. The gunshot appeared to be self-inflicted.

Deputies next found the wife’s body inside the home. She too had suffered a gunshot would to the chest. Both people were dead at the scene, according to Rouzan. Their names were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Investigators determined the wife was the victim and the husband was the suspected shooter, Rouzan said.

Anyone with information on this murder-suicide was asked to call the sheriff’s homicide bureau at at (323) 890-5500.

 — City News Service

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A woman in her 40s was found stabbed to death inside a South Los Angeles apartment, and a suspect was behind bars Sunday, police said.

Officers were called at about 2:50 p.m. Saturday to a man causing trouble in the area of 83rd Street and Vermont Avenue, and their investigation led them to the apartment where the woman was found dead, according to Sgt. S. Blackman of the Los Angeles Police Department‘s 77th Street Station.

A man suspected of killing the victim was arrested at the scene and booked on suspicion of murder, the station watch commander said today.

Police did not release the name of the suspect and the coroner’s office withheld the victim’s name pending family notifications.

No other suspects were being sought, the watch commander said.

–City News Service

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A 65-year-old Whittier man who apparently shot his wife to death before turning the gun on himself was identified by the coroner’s office Sunday.

His name was Walter Joseph Maholick, an investigator said.

Norwalk Station deputies went to a home in the 13500 block of Lanning Drive in the unincorporated South Whittier area at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Deputy Ryan Rouzan.

The deputies had been sent to check on the welfare of the two people, Rouzan said. When they arrived at the home, the deputies were met by a family friend who told them she had not seen the married couple in a few days. That friend gave deputies a key to get into the house.

When the deputies went inside they found the husband on the bed with a gunshot wound to his chest. A shotgun was recovered near his body, Rouzan continued. The gunshot appeared to be self-inflicted.

Deputies next found the wife’s body inside the home. She too had suffered a gunshot would to the chest, according to Rouzan.

The woman’s name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

–City News Service

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Photo via Pixabay

A man described as a transient has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for the beating death of a homeless man over a spot near a trash bin almost two years ago.

Marco Antonio Villanueva, 37, was immediately sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for the killing of Ruben Zermeno, who was found dead June 18, 2014, near a trash bin in the 13900 block of Valley Boulevard in La Puente, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Villanueva admitted to investigators after being taken into custody that he had gotten mad at the 56-year-old man for taking his spot near a trash bin and struck Zermeno with a hammer, according to prosecutors.

Zermeno — who was also stomped on — died from blunt force trauma, according to prosecutors.

Villanueva was arrested on June 18, 2014, and has remained behind bars since then.

–City News Service

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