Pair Convicted of Murdering Woman in Front of Her Family

Two Southeast San Diego men were convicted Wednesday of murdering a woman in front of her family in a crime that will bring the gunman a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

An earlier trial had ended with a hung jury.

After about four days of deliberations, a jury convicted Brian Ray Fletcher, 24, and Terrance Kent Moord, 31, of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Maria Guadalupe Estrada. Additionally, the panel determined that Fletcher shot Estrada during a robbery, meaning he will receive a sentence that guarantees he will never be freed from prison.

“I’m really grateful that the jury was able to come to a verdict,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Rupert Linley said. “It’s frustrating to have an 11-1 hung jury,” as in the first trial.

The jury found that Fletcher and Moord used a disabled taxi to block the Market Street on-ramp to southbound Interstate 15 on June 20, 1991. When Estrada drove up, Fletcher asked for jumper cables.

Estrada, apparently feeling uneasy, said she did not have any and began to accelerate. Fletcher then fired the fatal shots. Estrada managed to drive around the taxi blocking the on-ramp, but she died soon after getting on the freeway.

During the retrial, four passengers in the car--Estrada’s mother, brother and two of her children--testified, but none of them could positively identify either defendant.

Linley said the pair were connected to the crime by footprints found at the scene. He also said that both men--Fletcher carrying a gun--arrived at a friend’s apartment less than 100 feet from the shooting scene just seconds after the crime.

Fletcher also told a cellmate in County Jail how he and an accomplice used taxis to commit robberies.

While Fletcher will receive life without parole for being the gunman, Moord will be sentenced to about 40 years to life during a hearing before Superior Court Judge William Kennedy on Dec. 31.