A former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy convicted of killing a romantic rival while on duty was spared prison time Tuesday, sentenced instead to one year in jail and 10 years of probation.

The decision angered the family of the man who was killed, Luis Morin. Five relatives spoke during the hearing asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence, which could have been more than 20 years in prison.

Morin’s mother stormed out of the courtroom after Superior Court Judge Otis Sterling said he would not send the ex-deputy, Oscar Rodriguez, to prison.

Because he already served months in jail following his conviction and awaiting trial, Rodriguez likely will be out of custody within months, his lawyer said. An exact release date was not immediately available.

Rodriguez, 43, was convicted of manslaughter in June, but a jury acquitted him of murder for killing Morin in 2014.

Prosecutors had urged Sterling to sentence Rodriguez to prison because of his violation of the public trust and the oath he swore to uphold the law. But Sterling said he agreed with a report by the Riverside County Probation Department recommending Rodriguez be granted probation because he had no criminal history, has obeyed the law since being charged and does not pose a danger to the community.

The courtroom was packed Tuesday, with dozens of Morin’s relatives or friends and others there to support Rodriguez. Extra sheriff’s deputies were on hand.

“It was an appropriate and brave sentence, especially with all the community pressure and the very large crowd,” Mark Fredrick, Rodriguez’s defense attorney, said shortly after the hearing.

Moments before, Corina Gomez had described her sadness about her brother’s death to the court. She wore the same blouse to the hearing, she said, that she was wearing the night he was shot. The family had gathered that night for her birthday celebration.

Most of Morin’s family members and supporters left the courtroom in anger while Sterling was still explaining the details of his sentence. They gathered in front of the courthouse to share their grief and express their anger.

“It took 11 years for us to not have justice served,” Gomez said near the courthouse parking lot. “What kind of system is this?”

Driveway Confrontation

Rodriguez fired the fatal shot during a confrontation in Morin’s mother’s driveway in Coachella the evening of Jan. 27, 2014. Morin’s mother testified that Rodriguez rushed out from the dark to attack her son and did not identify himself as law enforcement when doing so. Rodriguez’s defense team disputed her account and argued that the deputy had gone to the home to arrest Morin, who had an active warrant. Rodriguez shot Morin in self defense, they told the jury.

The prosecution presented evidence during trial showing the department discourages deputies from arresting people on warrants while alone and late in the evening. They also presented evidence that Rodriguez and the mother of Morin’s children were in a relationship before the fatal shooting. Diana Perez, the mother, had sent Rodriguez Morin’s location soon before the killing. Prosecutors argued the confrontation was planned.

The Desert Sun reported that evidence of the relationship had first been revealed to the public during a civil suit Morin’s family filed against the department. That evidence resulted in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office reversing its initial determination that Rodriguez had acted lawfully, and they opened a criminal investigation.

That investigation found that several of Rodriguez’s colleagues knew about his relationship with Perez and had withheld that information from the department’s own homicide detectives. The station’s captain at the time was being investigated and later fired for several inappropriate relationships he was having with coworkers.

A Family in Pain

Several of Morin’s sisters and his daughter were among those who described to Sterling and the court Tuesday the devastating effect his death has had on their lives. Elianna Morin said she was 12 years old when her father was killed. Now 23, she said she was leaning on her faith to keep her going: “Because today my dad didn’t get the justice he deserved.”

“I am forever traumatized: watching my brother struggle to breathe while having a gun pointed at my face,” Tiana Morin said, recollecting a memory of the police response to the shooting, which she said haunts her family.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Garcia told Sterling before the sentence that Rodriguez had deleted text messages and lied in his initial statement.

“He preplanned a solo ambush,” Garcia said to the court, later adding that Rodriguez’s attempt to arrest Morin alone was a hazard of his own making. “He created that situation.”

Rodriguez’s sister, Gomez, listed off the evidence prosecutors had presented in the trial, including that Rodriguez did not disclose his relationship with Perez to his own department before or after the shooting. Gomez said she believed prosecutors had done their jobs, but the end result left her feeling that the case was doomed to fail from the beginning.

“They took all of that evidence and threw it away just because he was a police officer,” Gomez said.

Maria Gomez, Morin’s mother, sat during the hearing near reporters in the back of the courtroom. While Sterling prefaced his sentence with his legal analysis of the case, she could be heard praying as she looked at the courtroom ceiling.

Arianna Mejia, another of Morin’s sisters, had read a statement during the hearing on her mother’s behalf.

“I watched a man who was sworn to protect and serve take my son’s life before my eyes,” Mejia read from Gomez’s written statement. “I was placed in a police car for hours while my son lay lifeless on the driveway.”

More than 11 years later, her eyes watered and she caught her breath as Sterling described his sentence.

“They should be charged with gang enhancements and conspiracy,” Gomez said to the quiet court as she walked out, seemingly alleging that the judge and others in the criminal justice system are part of a “gang” that protected one of their own, Rodriguez, and spared him jail time.

Her daughters said they believed the criminal justice system had made them wait more than a decade as it conspired against them to deny her brother justice and peace.

“I am no longer the woman I used to be. I am a ghost,” Maria Gomez’s statement read. “I am living a sentence of my own, a life sentence of pain.”

—

Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Sheriff’s deputy gets probation, no prison time for killing romantic rival
Reporting by Christopher Damien, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect