Lake Elsinore man sentenced to life in prison for 2007 Thanksgiving murder
Keith Jerome Dean was 18 when he attacked and robbed 47-year-old Hugo Velasquez on Nov. 22, 2007. Velasquez, who had liver and heart disease that complicated his injuries, died at a hospital the next day.
Friday, March 12, 2010
A 21-year-old Lake Elsinore resident was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for robbing and punching a man who suffered fatal complications the day after the Thanksgiving Day attack.
Keith Jerome Dean was 18 when he attacked and robbed 47-year-old Hugo Velasquez on Nov. 22, 2007. Velasquez, who had liver and heart disease that complicated his injuries, died at a hospital the next day.
The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated less than a full day before convicting Dean last October of first-degree murder, finding true the special circumstance allegation of murder committed during a robbery.
Dean was also found guilty of the attempted robbery of Velasquez’s companion, Carlos Garcia. Dean jumped out of some bushes and threw a punch at Garcia, according to trial testimony.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Petersen stayed a two-year prison sentence on the robbery conviction.
Deputy District Attorney Brandon Smith has said that the jury had no choice but to find the defendant guilty of special-circumstance murder because he was robbing the victim at the time he inflicted fatal injuries.
“I think the jury did feel that they were bound by the law,” Smith said. “When you make a decision to engage in an assault and someone dies as a result, you are responsible.”
During the trial, Smith showed jurors a videotape of Dean being questioned by a sheriff’s investigator, in which the defendant admitted punching Velasquez and taking his money.
Dean said he tussled with Velasquez and punched him in the face, but told the detective he had no idea that his actions would prove fatal.
The cause of death was ruled as blunt force injuries to the head, exacerbated by heart and liver disease, according to the coroner’s office.
Defense attorney Renee Rupp said Dean could have been protecting his younger brother or someone else by confessing to the crime.
“I believe that he was protecting other people involved, and I think the confession showed that,” she said. “There were no witnesses. Nobody identified him.”
Rupp said Garcia, who was with Velasquez when he was punched and knocked down, could not identify Dean as the attacker, nor could he swear that his companion was robbed.
In her closing argument, Rupp told jurors that Dean’s confession echoed what he was prompted to say by a sheriff’s investigator.
“The evidence does support a fight among drunk individuals,” Rupp said.
She also argued that Velasquez’s liver and heart problems were contributing factors in his death.
Tags: Carlos Garcia, Defense attorney Renee Rupp, Deputy District Attorney Brandon Smith, Hugo Velasquez, Keith Jerome Dean, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Petersen, SWRNN
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