Opinion ID: 2634864
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Three Paramount Murders

Text: The prosecution presented evidence establishing defendant's involvement in three additional killings committed on the morning of February 22, 1990, the same day that defendant arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound and was placed under arrest. On that morning, defendant and his half brother, Paciano Jacques (Mingo) Ochoa, armed themselves with a .45-caliber handgun and a .38-caliber handgun  the latter weapon being the same firearm used by defendant at the Mazatlan Bar one month earlier  and took four kilos of cheese wrapped in tape to a residence located in Paramount. According to the prosecution's theory of the case, defendant and his half brother intended to effect a drug rip-off, whereby they would obtain the cash from their buyers, who presumably believed they were purchasing four kilos of cocaine. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to a shots fired call at approximately 10:45 a.m. Investigating officers discovered the bodies of three persons  Solticio Martinez, Juan Parra Gomez, and Everado Cervantes  at the residence, each of the victims having suffered multiple fatal gunshot wounds. One victim was found with a nine-millimeter firearm in his waistband, the second was found with a .380-caliber firearm and a single .380-caliber expended shell beneath him, and the third victim was found unarmed in a separate room. Nine shell casings fired from the same .38-caliber firearm that had been used in the Mazatlan Bar were found at the crime scene, as were six .45-caliber shell casings. Defendant's fingerprints and those of his half brother were recovered from beer cans found inside the entranceway of the room where the bodies were found. Investigators examined the four kilos of cheese and determined they contained some cocaine. Later that day, defendant arrived at the Charter Suburban Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left chest area; Kathleen Estavillo, the emergency room nurse, asked defendant where he had suffered his injury, and defendant replied, Paramount. She explained to defendant in Spanish: I am very glad it happened in Paramount as opposed to Compton. If it happened in the City of Compton, it could be hours before a police agency would be here to interview you. Approximately one-half hour later, Estavillo overheard defendant inform a deputy sheriff that he had been wounded by a Black man in the City of Compton. Defendant's hospital armband bore the name, Norberto Marquez Nevarez. His wallet contained identification for Abelino Martinez. An investigating officer at the hospital, who previously had seen defendant's picture, recognized him, however, and defendant, for whom a warrant already had issued in connection with the La Playas restaurant murder, was arrested.