Killings of 2 men based on 'total bogus lie,' Sacramento prosecutor tells jury

Posted in Related Deaths

4-13-2011 California:

Priscilla Ramirez did have a bruise on her eye, police and prosecutors said, and she did cry with conviction when she called her cousin on the phone and asked him to pick her up near Florin Road.

She told Philip Perez Gonzales Jr. and his pal, Michael Lee Armstrong, that her boyfriend had raped her and beat her, according to authorities.

Now she wanted Gonzales and Armstrong to deliver a little payback, they said, and she got in the car and took them to her boyfriend's place at the Seavey Circle housing project.

There was one big problem with Ramirez's rape story.

It was "a complete and total bogus lie," Deputy District Attorney Eric Kindall told a Sacramento Superior Court jury Tuesday.

Kindall's comment came in his closing argument in the Gonzales-Armstrong murder trial.

Desert Hot Springs man sentenced to life in prison in rape rumor case

8-15-2011 California:

A Desert Hot Springs man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for gunning down a friend over what turned out to be a false rape rumor.

Concepcion Rodriguez, 35, was convicted April 28 of the 2006 killing of Anastacio “Taquito” Torres, with a special circumstance allegation of murder in the commission of a kidnapping.

Co-defendant Mingus Chavarria, 33, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in May to 15 years to life in prison.

Several of the victim's family members were on hand for Rodriguez's sentencing at Larson Justice Center in Indio.

“On behalf of my family, I want to thank the court for bringing us justice,” said Ernest Torres Jr., the victim's brother. “And we pray to God he has mercy on Mr. Rodriguez. We pray he finds the Lord in prison.”

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Richard A. Erwood denied defense attorney Demitra Tolbert's new trial and acquittal motions, and a request that Rodriguez not be required to pay restitution to the victim's family.