Drug-Crazed Gunman Convicted : Life Sentence in Shooting-Spree Killings

Francisco Urias Uriarte was convicted Friday of murdering a Spring Valley couple and wounding two other people during an October, 1987, shooting spree that occurred while he was on drugs.

Because he was convicted of murder with special circumstances, Uriarte will serve a lifetime sentence without the possibility of parole.

Uriarte was convicted of one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and a special-circumstances charge because of the multiple murders.

The same jury that convicted Uriarte will reconvene Tuesday to consider defense attorney Athena Shudde’s argument that a huge amount of cocaine in Uriarte’s bloodstream made him insane at the time of the murders.

The sanity phase of the trial only will determine if Uriarte goes to state prison or a state mental institution for the rest of his life, Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Walden said.

Uriarte, a Mexican national, entered John Alva’s apartment and said something about Uriarte’s wife, who was in a Tijuana hospital at the time, according to trial testimony. After accusing the occupants of laughing at him, Uriarte opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol, killing Nancy and Jeff Constantino, who were visiting Alva to look at some paintings.

Both Constantinos were shot through the heart, and Alva was shot as he jumped out of the room. However, Uriarte chased Alva into a hallway where the gunman stood over Alva and fired several more times into his back.

Uriarte left the apartment, and several blocks away encountered Tom Eberwein, whom he shot once.