| For Immediate Release Case # 08NF3673
January 27, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE FOR ROBBERY-MURDER OF MARRIED FATHER OF TWO AFTER GAINING ACCESS
TO HOME WITH PROMISE OF SEX
SANTA ANA – A man was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for 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 Dec. 7, 2011, of one felony count of special circumstances murder in the commission of a robbery.
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.
During the sentencing today, Harry’s wife Annie gave a victim impact statement to the court and explained that her whole world has been changed. She said that she no longer has her husband, her sons no longer have their father, and their family and lives will never be the same.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.