Jury Sentences Killer to Death
A Superior Court jury in Santa Ana decided Wednesday that Teofilo Medina Jr., 43, should be executed for murdering three young men during a 1984 robbery spree.
The jury deliberated for 12 hours before deciding on the death penalty for Medina, who was convicted in September on three counts of first-degree murder for the fatal shootings of gas station attendants Victor Rea, 20, and Hector Ariza, 20, and of drive-in dairy clerk Douglas Michael Metal, 23.
Medina, who has spent most of his adult life in prison for violent crimes and was referred to as a “mad dog” by his own lawyer, is also suspected of killing Corona gas station attendant Craig Martin, 18.
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