Lawyer Admits at Trial That Salcido Killed 7

A public defender conceded Monday that Ramon Salcido killed seven people but said the former winery worker was under a “psychotic depression” at the time of the rampage.

Marteen Miller made the admission in his opening statement before a San Mateo County Superior Court jury of eight women and four men at the trial of Salcido on seven counts of first-degree murder.

Sonoma County Assistant Dist. Atty. Peter Bumerts, seeking the death penalty, said he would use Salcido’s confession to sheriff’s deputies en route back from Mexico where he was arrested to show that the 1989 slayings were premeditated.

Salcido, 29, is accused of killing his wife, two of his three daughters, his mother-in-law and her two daughters and a co-worker. He also faces counts of attempted murder for attacks on a third daughter and another co-worker.

Miller told the jury that the confession would show that Salcido was in a “psychotic depression” at the time of the killings.