| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Jury recommends death sentence for rapist-murderer
Thursday April 24, 2003SANTA 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.
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