Killer of Boxer Is Given Death Sentence

A Carson gang member convicted of gunning down a promising amateur boxer while burglarizing the man’s Wilmington home was sentenced Wednesday to die in the gas chamber.

A probation officer described Jesse Morrison, 24, as “an urban terrorist who commits acts of violence to intimidate and eliminate people in his own community.”

Judge Gary Ferrari, a Long Beach Municipal Court judge temporarily assigned to hear Superior Court cases, said he agreed with that assessment as he imposed the sentence recommended last month by a jury.

Morrison was convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances, attempted murder, robbery and burglary for the May 11, 1989, death of 22-year-old Cesar Cardenas and the serious injury of his sister, Lourdes Cardenas, 24.

Cesar Cardenas, who died about seven hours after he was shot, was a dedicated athlete and Golden Gloves boxer who had hoped to compete in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

“Cesar Cardenas chose to work hard, support his family, be a superb athlete and be a productive member of society,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Carbaugh said after Morrison was sentenced. “Jesse Morrison chose to deal drugs, commit armed robbery and destroy peoples’ lives.”

Morrison’s two defense attorneys could not be reached for comment. The death sentence will be appealed automatically under state law.

According to witnesses at the trial, Morrison and three accomplices--Michael Berry, his brother, Shawn Berry, and a 15-year-old identified in court records only as Nathan L.--broke into the small Wilmington home Cardenas shared with his mother, his sister, Lourdes, and her baby girl.

The Cardenas family, which had recently moved from Carson to the Wilmington house to open a family printing business, knew their assailants from their old neighborhood. The group had visited the Wilmington house a few hours before the 12:30 a.m. attack to ask Cardenas to print a flyer advertising a neighborhood picnic.

That night, Lourdes Cardenas told police, she awoke to the sound of voices in the hallway outside her bedroom. When she looked out, she saw Morrison and two others armed with guns demanding money from her brother.

As Lourdes Cardenas watched, Morrison ordered Cesar Cardenas to go into his bedroom and lie down on his bed. Morrison placed a gun next to Cardenas’ right ear, held a pillow over his head to muffle the noise and then fired two shots.

When Morrison came out of the room, he saw Lourdes Cardenas watching him and clutching her 4-month-old baby to her chest.

Lourdes Cardenas threw the baby clear of the line of fire when she realized that Morrison was about to shoot her. She suffered bullet wounds in her neck and chest and spent two months in the hospital. The child was not hurt.

Michael Berry allegedly fired several shots at Maria Cardenas when the woman ran out of her room. She was not injured.

Carbaugh said the case was one of the most violent and senseless he has ever prosecuted.

“I’ve never seen a more unconscionable, cold-blooded killing than this,” he said. “Think of it--you’re sleeping, not bothering anybody. And they come into your home and just start shooting. . . . If the defendant had had his way, there would be three people dead in this case.”

The trial for Berry, who became seriously ill two months ago, has been postponed until January. Shawn Berry, who was not armed during the attack, was sentenced to four years in state prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of residential burglary. The 15-year-old, Nathan L., was convicted of first-degree murder in juvenile court and ordered to serve a term in the California Youth Authority.