Joseph Shemaria in the news

October 25, 2006

The housekeeper murder: Suspect could face death or life in prison if guilty

Murder suspect Herbert Orlando Gonzalez re-entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday for the slaying of Libia Cabrera and charges of robbery, burglary, and arson in connection with the crime.

Joseph Shemaria, Gonzalez’s defense attorney, affirmed his client’s innocence and seemed staunchly opposed to accepting any potential plea bargains offered by the District Attorney’s Office.

“This case is going to trial,” Shemaria said. “This case is going all the way, as far as it needs to go. We will never stop fighting it.”

Gonzalez, 26, was ordered to stand trial on May 30. His pre-trial was scheduled for April 27.

Earlier this month, a judge decided that there was enough evidence for Gonzalez to stand trial for Cabrera’s murder, burglary, and robbery.

The DA’s Office has since added arson to the charges, said District Attorney Mary Suzukawa as she was leaving the courtroom on Tuesday. Suzukawa also mentioned a special circumstances provision of the California penal code, which states that the penalty for a defendant who is found guilty of murder in the first degree is death or life in state prison without the possibility of parole if certain circumstances are found to be true. Suzukawa did not mention which special circumstances the prosecution would try to prove during Gonzalez’s trial.

Gonzalez is the first suspect to have been arrested and charged with the crime. Investigators believe that more people were involved in the crime and are still searching for other suspects.

Firefighters found Cabrera’s burned body in a Manhattan Beach apartment fire last April. She was lying naked in a pool of blood. She was gagged and her hands were bound. According to a coroner’s report, she had died from a single knife wound to her neck.

Arson investigators determined that the fire had been intentionally set. A wall heater had been turned on and combustible material, including sheets, a comforter, and a pillow were placed in a line from the heater to her body. Cabrera was also raped, but not by Gonzalez.

Investigators have still not found a DNA match, detective Kathy Gallagher said.

Cabrera, 39, was a wife and mother of two from Lawndale. She cleaned homes in Manhattan Beach and was the apartment tenant’s housekeeper.

The key piece of evidence is footage taken from a surveillance camera of a man walking around the apartment before and during the time of the crime.

Two former neighbors of Cabrera identified the man as Gonzalez.

When police arrested Gonzalez in January, he first admitted that he was the person in the video. Then, according to testimony by investigator Randy Seymour, Gonzalez retracted his statement and said that everything he had said was a lie.

“[Gonzalez] eventually admitted that it was him,” Seymour testified earlier this month.

“He said he didn’t know anybody had ever been murdered,” he added.

If Gonzalez was involved in the burglary, robbery, and arson in connection with Cabrera’s murder, he can be tried for first-degree murder, even if he was not the killer.

The judge reset Gonzalez’s bail at $1 million.ER
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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

JOSEPH SHEMARIA

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Joseph Shemaria in the news