Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.

March 27, 2008

Jury Recommends Death for Azusa Gang Member Convicted of Killing Four

LOS ANGELES – A jury recommended the death penalty today for an Azusa gang member it convicted of four murders, including the racially motivated killing of a 16-year-old African-American boy in 1999.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee of the Hardcore Gang Division, who prosecuted the case with Deputy District Attorney Ian Phan, said the jury deliberated four hours before returning three death penalty verdicts against 26-year-old Ralph Steven Flores.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy, who presided over the trial, scheduled formal sentencing for June 2.

The jury convicted Flores of the first-degree murders of the African-American teenager, Christopher Lynch; Miguel Reyes and Fenise Luna in December 2004; and Claudia Rosio Chenet in 2003.

In the Lynch murder, the jury found true the special circumstance that the victim was killed because of his race. Because Flores was 17 at the time of that murder, the prosecution could not seek the death penalty. The maximum penalty is life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jury’s death verdicts were for the murders of Reyes, Luna and Chenet. The killings occurred in the Azusa area and by its verdicts, the jurors determined that the deaths were, among other things, gang-related.

The crimes occurred in the Azusa area. Two-co-defendants previously were convicted in the case. One was convicted of one of the murders; the other pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in another of the deaths. They face sentencing by Judge Kennedy later this month and in April.

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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

JOSEPH SHEMARIA

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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.