Four reputed gang members who killed three people in a pair of shootings at scenic lookouts over Pasadena and in Rancho Palos Verdes in 2023 were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole while a fifth was given a 30-year-to-life sentence in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, June 18.
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The five were convicted on June 2 of at least one count of murder, with three convicted of multiple counts, in the July 22, 2023, slaying of 32-year-old Jessie Munoz and the July 24, 2023, slayings of Jorge Ramos, 36, and Taylorraven Whittaker, 26.
The defendants, who prosecutors said were gang members, had targeted scenic lookouts to rob people of their cellphones and wallets, prosecutors said. They would then divvy up the spoils among themselves and other gang members.
Marco Antonio Hernandez, 21, Rossel Jose Hernandez-Ponce, 24, Wendy Sarai Cerritos, 23 and Abraham Ernesto Alvarenga Cortez, 23, were handed the life sentences, while Luis Ventura, 27, was given the shorter sentence because his murder charge did not include special-circumstance allegations.
Hernandez was the only one convicted in all three slayings. Hernandez-Ponce and Cerritos were convicted of two counts of murder in the deaths of Ramos and Whittaker, while Cortez and Ventura were convicted in the death of Munoz.
All five were convicted of a count of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Hernandez, Ventura and Cortez were also convicted of two counts of robbery, while Hernandez, Hernandez-Ponce and Cerritos were also convicted of two counts of attempted robbery.
“It’s extremely troubling, the casual slaughter the defendants engaged in,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen said. “You showed no mercy, you’ll get no mercy.”
The five defendants were found and arrested two days after the Rancho Palos Verdes shooting.
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