THE818NOW
September 11, 2012
Prosecutors charged a North Hollywood man with capital murder Tuesday in connection with the slaying of his parents. Jonathan Mercado, 25, was charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office with two counts of murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders. Prosecutors said they would not make an immediate determination whether to seek the death penalty. Continue reading > > -- Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times
THE818NOW
July 24, 2012
David A. Garcia, the man accused of killing Burbank Police Officer Matthew Pavelka in November 2003, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges Tuesday. Garcia, 28, was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Pavelka, 26, was killed in an exchange of gunfi re during a routine stop outside the Ramada Inn after just 10 months on the force. His partner, Officer Gregory Campbell, was wounded as they approached a parked SUV -- in which Garcia was a passenger -- on suspicion that drug activity was taking place.
NEWS
By Jason Wells and Veronica Rocha, Times Community News | July 24, 2012
David A. Garcia, the man accused of killing Burbank Police Officer Matthew Pavelka in November 2003, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges Tuesday. Garcia, 28, was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Pavelka, 26, was killed in an exchange of gunfire during a routine stop outside the Ramada Inn after just 10 months on the force. His partner, Officer Gregory Campbell, was wounded as they approached a parked SUV in which Garcia was a passenger.
NEWS
By CHARLES UNGER | November 8, 2008
I guess you can?t blame the guy for trying. Someone sentenced to death generally does not want to die, and I have seen all sorts of creative appeals in an attempt to get around the death penalty sentence. Perhaps the most creative of all was recently put forth by Cincinnati inmate Richard Cooey, whose claim was that he was too overweight to be executed. In the state of Ohio, lethal injection is used to terminate life. Cooey was 5-foot-7, 265 pounds. He was also a double murderer.
LOCAL
By Jeremy Oberstein | July 12, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Defense attorneys told jurors on Thursday they should not sentence Juan Manuel Alvarez to death, owing mostly to the rabid abuse he experienced as a child and remorse he showed after the incident, exemplified by a phone message that he left for his cousin shortly after the 2005 train wreck. In a brief message played during the penalty phase in the Los Angeles Superior Court room, a sobbing Alvarez, now 29, told Beto Alvarez: “I didn’t mean to do this, Beto.
LOCAL
By Jeremy Oberstein | July 9, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Emotionally charged testimony by co-workers and family members of victims who died in a 2005 Metrolink train crash marked the first day of the penalty phase against Juan Manuel Alvarez on Monday, highlighted by tearful jurors and loud weeping from those sitting in the packed courtroom. Alvarez, 29, was convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson on June 26 for his role in the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink derailment that injured 184 crew members and passengers.
LOCAL
By Jeremy Oberstein | June 28, 2008
LOS ANGELES — After less than two days of deliberation, jurors found Juan Manuel Alvarez guilty Thursday of 11 counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson for his role in the January 2005 Metrolink train wreck. The nine-woman, three-man jury did not convict Alvarez on a train-wrecking charge, but found him at fault for at least one special-circumstance charge that could result in the death penalty. The penalty phase of the trial is scheduled to begin July 7, with testimony from victims’ family members, who filled the courtroom Thursday.
LOCAL
By Jeremy Oberstein | April 19, 2008
LOS ANGELES ? Nine men, three women and six alternates were chosen to serve on a jury that will decide the fate of Juan Manuel Alvarez, whose capital murder trial is expected to begin April 28. Alvarez faces 11 counts of murder with special circumstances and one count each of train wrecking and arson in connection with a January 2005 collision that left 11 dead and more than 180 injured. In the early-morning hours of Jan. 26, 2005, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on Metrolink train tracks that straddle the border of Glendale and Los Angeles in what his attorneys claim was an attempt at ending his life.