The Region - News from Sept. 21, 1987

For the second time, a 45-year-old Cuban national was sentenced to death for the 1980 murder of a Brinks guard at Del Amo Fashion Square in Torrance. In 1985, Jose Leon Fuentes’ original death sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court because of questions about Fuentes’ intent to kill the guard. The second sentence was handed down by Torrance Superior Court Judge William Hollingsworth after a new trial. Fuentes and a second robber who escaped attempted at gunpoint to take more than $80,000 in cash and checks from guard Paul Martinez at the Ohrbach’s store in the mall, authorities charged. In an exchange of gunfire, Martinez was fatally shot and Fuentes was wounded.