Local News in Brief : San Diego

Jury deliberations began Wednesday in the sentencing of a man found guilty of the 1985 killings of three men.

The San Diego Superior Court jurors discussed for about two hours whether they should give the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole to Ronaldo Ayala.

The jury has today and Friday off. Deliberations will resume Monday.

The same jury convicted Ayala, 38, of San Diego, on Oct. 12 of first-degree murder in the April 26, 1985, slayings of Ernesto (Cha Cho) Mendez Dominguez, 30; his brother-in-law, Marco Zamora Villa, 31, and Jose (Cucuy) Luis Rositas, 24.

The jury found true special-circumstances allegations that there were multiple murder victims and that the slayings occurred during a robbery.

The victims were bound and gagged in a radiator shop on 43rd Street in Southeast San Diego. The lone survivor, Pedro Castillo, 42, identified Ayala as one of three men who took part in the shootings, which were drug-related.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Woodward asked the jury to recommend the death penalty and cited Ayala’s six previous felony convictions and history of aggressive behavior in prison.

In the penalty phase, Woodward presented evidence that Ayala was involved in three prison stabbings or assaults and a murder there, although he was not prosecuted in any of the incidents. Ayala has been convicted of robbery, two burglaries, possession of heroin, auto theft and possession of a dagger in prison.

His attorney, Elisabeth Semel, told the jury: “We ask that you spare him because he is not defined by the crimes he has committed. Nothing we can say can excuse the crime. The D. A. wants you to see him by his crimes.”

A sentence of “life without parole is not being soft on crime. It is not a break,” Semel said.

Ayala’s brother, Hector, 36, will go on trial after his brother’s case is concluded. The third man charged in the case, Jose Moreno, 49, will stand trial next year.