A judge has upheld a capital sentence against a California man who murdered four people, but whether the state will put the killer to death is uncertain.
On Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos ruled that 24-year-old Jose Vladimir Larin-Garcia should receive the death penalty, KTLA reports. The ruling affirms a death sentence issued by a jury in February 2023.
“The death penalty is reserved for those who have truly proven themselves to be without remorse for actions that are among the most egregious imaginable,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a press release. “The decision made today is not one made lightly, but reflects the heinous nature of these crimes, committed by a man who took so much away from so many people, for something so inconsequential.”
Larin-Garcia was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of the victims: 25-year-old Carlos Campos-Rivera, 17-year-old Yuliana Garcia, 19-year-old Jacob Montgomery, and 18-year-old Juan Duarte-Raya.
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Authorities say that on February 3, 2019, Larin-Garcia was with three of the victims in a vehicle. When they met with Campos-Rivera, Larin-Garcia shot him twice. The vehicle then sped away and Larin-Garcia shot and killed everyone else in the car, which crashed.
Police found Larin-Garcia hiding under a nearby truck. He was hospitalized and later escaped the medical facility, only to be captured the following day trying to flee on a Greyhound bus.
Although the judge affirmed the death sentence, it is not clear whether it will happen. California has not executed any inmates on death row since 2006.
During Friday’s hearing, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao read aloud a letter written by a child of Campos-Rivera, who was just 10 when their father died.
“There are no words to describe how this has impacted me,” the prosecutor said while reading the letter, according to the Desert Sun. “How am I supposed to articulate something that has turned my life completely upside down? I had everything in the world at that point until I lost my best friend in the world, my dad. I still can’t understand why you would do such an evil thing.”
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[Feature Photo:Yuliana Garcia, Jacob Montgomery, Carlos Campos-Rivera and Juan Duarte-Raya/Riverside County District Attorney]
