A state appeals court panel on Friday upheld an ex-convict’s conviction for carrying out a shooting rampage that left five people dead in the San Fernando Valley, including three on the same day.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that his conviction violated Alexander Hernandez’s constitutional right because his trial counsel conceded guilt at his trial, purportedly over the defendant’s objection.
The appellate court panel noted that Hernandez unsuccessfully sought to replace his trial attorneys early in the trial process and that the defendant told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus that his lawyers didn’t want to use certain evidence at trial that he believed would help his defense and that there were a “couple things” he didn’t want them to say to the jury.
Damage from gunfire is shown to a vehicle at the scene of a shooting where one was killed and two were injured on the 1400 block of Celis Street in San Fernando on Aug. 24, 2014. It was part of a shooting rampage through the San Fernando Valley that left five dead and many others injured. Alexander Hernandez is serving five consecutive life term after being convicted in the attacks. (File photo by Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News)
“But nowhere in the record did Hernandez state that his goal was to maintain his innocence of the charges against him or to preclude the use of mental state evidence, despite the trial court’s several requests that he explain the nature of his disagreement with defense counsel,” the panel found in its 18-page ruling.
Hernandez, now 44, was convicted in May 2022 of first-degree murder for the 2014 slayings of Sergio Sanchez on March 14; Gilardo Morales on Aug. 21; and Gloria Tovar, Michael Planells and Mariana Franco on Aug. 24, along with 11 counts of attempted murder — the bulk of which occurred between Aug. 20 and Aug. 24, 2014.
Jurors found true the special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during a drive-by shooting.
The former Sylmar resident was also found guilty of eight counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of possession of ammunition by a felon.
Hernandez — who withdrew his not guilty by reason of insanity plea just before the trial — pleaded no contest before the trial began to three animal cruelty charges involving three dogs — two of which were killed — at the Pacoima home of a good Samaritan who testified that he had previously helped Hernandez jump-start his SUV.
Hernandez was sentenced in August 2022 to five consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
The judge — who said then that Hernandez “should never be released” — also tacked on more than 483 years to life on to his sentence.
“To call him evil seems inadequate,” the judge said, saying the defendant “went out to hunt people” and that the cruelty he exhibited “defies explanation.”
Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee told jurors in her final argument that they will probably never know why the crimes occurred. She told City News Service after the verdict that the attacks were “absolutely unprovoked.”
Most of the victims were driving — including home from prom or work, to church and en route to a fishing trip with their children on Father’s Day — when they noticed a vehicle following them or pulling up alongside.
In most of the cases, the vehicle was Hernandez’s Chevrolet Suburban, the prosecutor alleged at a hearing in 2016 in which the defendant was ordered to stand trial.
The SUV was identifiable by a hood that didn’t close properly, stickers of “a white skull” and “666” on the back of the vehicle, its custom six-spoked rims and other unique details, according to the prosecution, which also alleged that the housing for a side-view mirror found at the Morales crime scene was matched to the Suburban.
Sanchez, 35, was found fatally shot inside his vehicle on a freeway off-ramp in Sylmar, while Morales, 48, was shot to death while in a vehicle in the Pacoima area.
Tovar, 59, was shot to death while in her car in Pacoima, waiting to pick up a friend to go to church.
Franco, 22, was with her parents and two siblings on their way to church when a gunman pulled up alongside in an SUV and said in Spanish either “I am going to kill you” or “I’m killing you” before shooting Franco in the head. Her mother and father were also struck by bullets but survived.
Planells, 29, was shot that same day while standing in a parking lot in Sylmar.
Video surveillance footage showed someone in an SUV “shoot Mr. Planells and casually drive out of the parking lot,” the prosecutor said at a hearing in 2016.
Other shootings that were subsequently linked to the defendant included a May 14, 2014, drive-by attack that seriously injured a Chatsworth teenager who had just dropped his girlfriend at home following their high school prom and was waiting for a traffic light to change when a vehicle pulled alongside and a man shot him, according to the deputy district attorney.
The District Attorney’s Office dropped its bid for the death penalty for Hernandez in March 2021, just under four years after the prosecution announced it would seek capital punishment.
Shortly after being sworn into office, District Attorney George Gascón issued a series of directives, including one that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case.”
Elizabeth King, whose daughter was shot and seriously wounded, said of the defendant, “If I had my way, he would get the death penalty multiple times.”
King’s daughter, Nicole De La Mora, who was struck while on her way to work, called Hernandez “a murderer” and a “predator who took the lives of special people,” and said she wanted to thank “the heroes who stepped in to save my life.”
During Hernandez’s August 2022 sentencing, family members of the murder victims described eight years of pain and suffering without their loved ones.
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Tovar’s sister, Maria Hortensia Mejia, said her sibling “did not deserve this because she could have done many great things,” especially for the elderly and those in need.
Morales’ niece, Nancy Payares, told the judge her uncle was “more than family to us” and was “the kind of man to help anyone.” She said she had been afraid that justice wouldn’t be done for him.
Hernandez has remained jailed without bail since he was arrested after barricading himself for about an hour inside his Sylmar residence on Aug. 24, 2014.
He had prior convictions dating back to 2004 for possession for sale of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance while armed and possession of a firearm by a felon.