| For Immediate Release Case # 08NF3673 December 7, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN CONVICTED OF ROBBERY-MURDER OF MARRIED FATHER OF TWO AFTER GAINING ACCESS TO HOME WITH PROMISE OF SEX
SANTA ANA – A man was convicted today of the bludgeoning-murder of a married father of two in order to rob him under the pretense of meeting for sex. Jaime Jezzuel Lopez, 29, Garden Grove, was found guilty by a jury of one felony count of special circumstances murder in the commission of a robbery and faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of at his sentencing Jan. 27, 2012, in Department C-30, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
On the morning of June 4, 2007, Rejinold Harry, 45, a married father of two sons, invited Lopez to his one bedroom Fullerton apartment while the victim’s two sons were at school and his wife was at work. Lopez entered the apartment under the pretense of having sex with the victim with the intention of robbing him.
After Harry had undressed, Lopez murdered him by hitting him multiple times in the back of the head with a large glass Crucifix. He then ransacked the apartment, stole money and jewelry, and fled the scene.
At 1:30 p.m., Harry’s naked, murdered body was found lying face down on the bed by his wife.
The case was investigated by the Fullerton Police Department, but went cold.
Approximately one month after the murder, in July 2007, Lopez was arrested on a misdemeanor lewd conduct warrant in the City of Garden Grove. At the time of his arrest, the defendant was in possession of multiple items of female jewelry, later determined to have been taken from the victim’s residence.
In 2008, Lopez was convicted of felony theft in an unrelated case, for which he was required to provide a DNA sample. Subsequent to providing his DNA, Lopez was linked to the murder of Harry through DNA found at the crime scene on the rim of a drinking glass.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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