Man Curses Judge and His Lawyer Before Getting 50-Year Term in Death of Couple

After having his mouth taped shut for interrupting a judge with obscenity-filled tirades, a 28-year-old Riverside man was sentenced Monday to 50 years to life for killing an Anaheim couple in their apartment.

The silver duct tape that was wrapped around the mouth of John R. Jordan Jr., however, did not stop him from hurling insults at Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey, who was trying to sentence him for the July 21, 1989, slayings.

“You can’t tape me up against my will,” said Jordan, as he managed to pull the tape off his face with his shackled left hand. “Treat me like a man and a human being and I will return it.”

“I prefer to treat you as a decent person,” Dickey responded.

But Jordan continued to yell at the judge.

Dickey then recessed the court and consulted with the Orange County marshal’s office to determine what should be done with the uncooperative Jordan.

When Dickey left the courtroom, Jordan vented his anger at his attorney, Milton C. Grimes, sitting next to him at the defense table.

“I’m tired of this. . . . They (the jury) convicted me for some dumb (expletive) that I didn’t do and now you want to rush me off to the . . . penitentiary. All this . . . is your fault,” Jordan said.

Jordan was convicted of first-degree murder on June 4 for his part in the shooting deaths of Ricardo Van Stubbs, 27, and Suzanne Rivera, 26. The Anaheim couple were found in their upstairs apartment nine days after they had been bound with duct tape and shot execution-style, according to Deputy Dist. Atty Charles J. Middleton, who sought the death penalty in the case.

Prosecutors contended that Jordan and a co-defendant, Charles Oscar Sabbath, planned to rob the Anaheim couple because they were upset with them over a failed drug deal.

One of the key pieces of evidence against Jordan was his fingerprint on a piece of tape used to tie up one of the victims. Also, Sabbath, who is already serving a 50-year-to-life sentence for the crime, testified against Jordan.

The jury found Jordan guilty of the slayings and three other counts of burglary and robbery but failed to return verdicts on the “special circumstances” that would have allowed the death penalty. In order to find special circumstances, the jury would have had to find that Jordan’s main intention when he entered the apartment was to commit the crimes of burglary or robbery, or that he meant for both victims to die.

After Monday’s recess, Judge Dickey returned to the courtroom, which was filled with some of the jurors and family members of both the victims and the defendant. The judge said he would not have Jordan’s mouth taped shut again.

Instead, he said, Jordan would have to remain silent or listen to the proceedings from an adjacent holding cell equipped with a loudspeaker.

“I considered, during the recess, a different form of taping,” Dickey said. “But I find it to be very demeaning to everyone involved, including the court.”

Jordan, however, continued his outbursts and was escorted out of the courtroom several times by bailiffs during the rest of the hearing.

The disruptions were nothing new in Jordan’s case. Throughout the trial, he interrupted the proceedings with his outbursts. At one point, he even had a brief scuffle with a bailiff, attorneys said.

Monday’s commotion began when Dickey denied Jordan’s motion to dismiss his attorney and disqualify Dickey, who he claimed was prejudiced against him.

“There has to be a time when you stop playing games,” Dickey said to Jordan.

“This is no game,” Jordan responded. He then started to berate both his attorney and Dickey. “You already helped me get found guilty,” he yelled at the judge.

At that point, Dickey ordered Jordan’s mouth taped shut. From the back of the courtroom, Jordan’s aunt stood up and said: “You might as well gag me, too.” She left the courtroom, however, and didn’t return.

During the recess, Jordan’s mother, Carol Jordan, told reporters that her son was innocent.

“My son is black and they never let anyone who’s black go free. . . . This is Orange County. It might as well be the Deep South in the 1800s,” she said.

Before Jordan was sentenced, Dickey heard from Rivera’s brother and stepfather. “It’s been over two years and my whole family continues to suffer,” said her brother, Paul Rivera.

“I loathe what you’ve become and chose to do,” he said to Jordan. “It affects too many lives. It’s our sentence handed down by you.”

Dickey also let Jordan speak before the sentence.

“I have contempt and hate for Orange County and especially this man to my left,” he said as he sat in the witness stand next to the judge. “This is not over. This will go to the appellate court. . . . You will see me in court again.”

Finally, Dickey pronounced his sentence to Jordan. “It appears you have no remorse whatsoever,” he said.

After the hearing, prosecutor Middleton said he was pleased with the length of the sentence. Jordan, he said, will be about 63 years old when he is eligible for parole. “I don’t think Mr. Jordan will ever see the light of day” again.