I'm not a proponent of the death penalty because frankly it's not a deterrent but rather a punitive "feel-good" measure we as a society mete out to those guilty of heinous crimes. With that said however, I think if you are going to have a death penalty, it should be reserved for cases like this, child murderers, and the twisted rapists who prey on the most vulnerable.
Okay, enough of the vengeance-promotion; the truth is that even though these crimes rise to the level of having "special circumstances" that "enhance" the punishment for the crime, I don't think California specifically designates crimes against those experiencing homelessness as a "hate crime."
I do know that since 2004, police in California has a law "mandating police officer training on hate crimes against homeless persons, particularly those with disabilities," but whether the prosecuting attorney actually has a law with which to charge someone accused of a hate crime is unknown to me.
That's too bad, too, since there'd be no question whatsoever if there was some kind of national hate crime law that included persons experiencing homelessness.....
Two Gang Members Arrested in 2008 Homeless Camp Massacre
VIDEO: Watch Glen Walker's Report
 5 Dead in Shooting Massacre at Homeless Camp in 2008 (KTLA News) |
David Cruz Ponce, 31, and Max Eliseo Rafael, 25, were each charged with five special circumstance murders in the case, said Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon.
The criminal complaint lists the special circumstance allegations as murder in the commission of kidnapping and murder of witnesses to a crime.
The bodies of three men and two women were discovered on November 2 in the space between commercial buildings and Interstate 405 near the Santa Fe Avenue off-ramp.
Ponce and Rafael, purportedly of the Nuthood Watts gang, are accused of killing Vanessa Malaepule, 34; her boyfriend Lorenzo Perez Villacana, 44, who lived at the camp; Katherine Verdun, 24; Hamid "Sammy" Shraifat, 41; and Frederick Neumeier, 53.
Don Morgan, a friend of the victims, told KTLA in 2008 that he knew them all by their first names or nicknames -- LV, Vanessa, Cat, Sammy and Fred.
He said they liked to come to the site to party.
Relatives of Malaepule said she was the mother of six children and was not homeless, but liked to hang out at the spot for unknown reasons.
She lived with her mother and children -- ages 8, 10, 13, 14, 15 and 16 -- at a home about two miles away, they said.
"She was a good person," said Malaepule's sister, Veronica Puaauli, 27. "Very funny. Everybody loved her."
Her uncle Ilager McMoore said police told him his niece was found beneath the body of her boyfriend, as though he had tried to shield her from the gunfire.
At the time, McMoore said he suspected the boyfriend may have been involved in a gang dispute.
Ponce is additionally charged with the kidnapping and murder of Tony Bledsoe of Lancaster on March 23, 2009.
In that case, Ponce is charged with one count each of murder and kidnapping to commit another crime with a special circumstance allegation that Bledsoe was killed while the defendant was engaged in the crime of kidnapping.
Ponce has three felony convictions from 2003 for second-degree robbery, first-degree residential burglary and possession of a controlled substance.
Ponce and Rafael also have been linked to a 2010 murder plot involving a rival gang member.
