Man Convicted in Killing of 2 San Diego Officers

A former auto mechanic was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder in the 1984 shooting deaths of two San Diego police officers, setting the stage for the trial’s penalty phase to determine if he should be executed for the crime.

An Orange County Superior Court jury in Westminster deliberated only two hours before returning the verdict against Joselito Cinco, 28, of Spring Valley. The panel upheld the special circumstances against Cinco of multiple murders, murder to avoid arrest and the killing of police officers engaged in their duties.

The same jury will return to court March 1 to begin hearing testimony in the penalty phase.

The panel will make a recommendation to Judge Luis Cardenas to either sentence Cinco to life in prison without parole or death in the gas chamber.

Cinco also was convicted of attempted murder for wounding Officer Gary Mitrovich, who had come to the aid of the two fallen officers--rookie Officer Kimberly Tonahill, 24, and Officer Timothy Ruopp, 31.

Ruopp and Tonahill were slain in the Grape Street section of San Diego’s Balboa Park on Sept. 14, 1984. They were shot repeatedly after encountering Cinco and one of his friends drinking with two teen-age girls in a parked car.

Cinco’s friend, who testified against him, and the two girls were not charged in the case.

During closing arguments, Cinco’s defense attorney asked jurors to find Cinco guilty of second-degree murder.

John Cotsirilos said the killings did not involve premeditation and he said that Cinco, a frequent narcotics abuser, shot the officers in a drug-induced moment of panic. The attorney said Cinco had used cocaine and marijuana the night of the shootings.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Neeley had told jurors that Cinco was a cold, calculating killer. Neeley said Cinco regularly carried a concealed gun and that Cinco once told an acquaintance, “I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot a cop.”

The trial was moved to Orange County on a change of venue in 1985 because of pretrial publicity in San Diego.