Sep 6, 2008 4:07 pm US/Pacific
Sacramento Man Convicted Of 2 Race-Based Murders
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
A Sacramento County man has been convicted of randomly killing two 40-year-old black men in April 2006.
Jurors on Friday found Jorge Padilla Ruiz guilty of the murders with special circumstances including that they were racially motivated. He faces life without parole at his Oct. 17 sentencing.
Prosecutors say Ruiz was upset that his brother had been beaten an hour earlier during a fight with several black men. So the 30-year-old Ruiz fatally shot Roosevelt June Campbell and Lonnie Lee Taylor at a North Sacramento service station.
Neither man was involved in the fight with Ruiz's brother, which took place several miles away.
Ruiz, who is a Mexican citizen, left for that country after the shootings. He was arrested when he returned to the United States.
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