Judge Ignores Pleas, Rules Killer Must Die

An Orange County Superior Court judge Friday sentenced Joselito Cinco to death for the 1984 murders of two San Diego police officers, ignoring pleas from Cinco and his mother for mercy.

Judge Luis Cardenas followed a jury’s recommendation in handing down the death penalty against the 28-year-old San Diego man. Cinco could have received a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

Cardenas criticized Cinco for showing no remorse during almost a year of legal proceedings.

“Unfortunately, for that you’re now going to pay with your life,” the judge said.

He added that death was “the only true and appropriate verdict for what happened.”

Cinco was convicted Feb. 18 of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the slayings of San Diego Police Officers Kimberly Tonnahill and Timothy Ruopp.

He was also convicted of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the wounding of Officer Gary Mitrovich. The trial, which began Nov. 16, 1987, was moved to Orange County because of publicity in San Diego.

Cinco’s mother begged Cardenas to spare her son’s life, and Cinco told the judge he wished he could trade his life for those of the two officers. He also apologized to the families of the victims.

Tonnahill and Ruopp were shot Sept. 14, 1984, while they were citing Cinco and another man for drinking alcohol with two teen-age girls after curfew in a San Diego park.