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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Jury recommends death sentence for rapist-murderer
Thursday April 24, 2003
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) Jurors recommended the death penalty
for a man convicted of raping and murdering a Huntington Beach
woman in 1999.
The seven-woman, five-man panel deliberated four hours before
deciding Wednesday that Victor Miranda-Guerrero should be sentenced
to death for the killing of 29-year-old Bridgette Ballas, who was
attacked Nov. 27, 1999.
Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno set sentencing for June
6.
Ballas was walking home after a night with friends in downtown
Santa Ana when Miranda-Guerrero chased her and slammed her head
onto the pavement before raping her while she was unconscious, a
prosecutor said.
Ballas died in a hospital two days later.
Her case was unsolved until June 2000 when Miranda-Guerrero was
arrested after allegedly trying to kidnap four women in a car
inside a parking structure. The women got away, but 15 minutes
later, another woman was confronted by him and assaulted.
When police obtained a search warrant, they found Ballas' rings
in Miranda-Guerrero's home. The jurors convicted him earlier this
month of kidnapping to commit rape, first-degree murder, attempted
carjacking, assault with intent to commit rape, receiving stolen
property, attempted sexual assault and attempted carjacking, and
the special circumstance allegation of murder while engaged in
rape.
Juror Sheila Garner of Huntington Beach said jurors followed the
law.
``We simply considered the facts and came to a unanimous
decision,'' Garner said outside court. ``This woman was struck in
the head with fatal blows until she was unconscious. Then she was
left with her naked body exposed. We felt that this was
horrendous.''
But Deputy Public Defender Donald Rubright said his client
didn't really understand what was going on. ``He has been mystified
by a lot of his behavior and the court process,'' Rubright said
afterward.
Rubright said the defendant was exposed to glue fumes while
working as a child making belts in Mexico and that a
neuropsychologist saw a disturbance in the area of the brain that
affects impulse control.
Miranda-Guerrero has been assessed as ``functioning at a low
level, or retarded, or borderline retarded,'' the deputy public
defender said.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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