SANTA ANA : Death Penalty Case Still in Deliberation
Jurors will resume deliberating today whether a Riverside man deserves the death penalty for murdering two men during a 1993 robbery in Westminster.
Ignacio Tafoya, 34, and co-defendant Timothy T. Wynglarz, 33, of Las Vegas, were convicted earlier this month in Orange County Superior Court in the May, 1993, killings of Gerald L. Skillman, 35, and Steven F. Rita, 28. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty against Wynglarz--who faces life in prison without parole--because Tafoya was the gunman.
Prosecutors believe Skillman was targeted for the robbery because he was a small-time drug dealer. The pair forced their way into Skillman’s home and Tafoya shot each man twice before the assailants looted the house, according to trial testimony.
On Thursday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum asked jurors to sentence Tafoya to death for his crimes, noting that Tafoya executed the victims and then left Skillman’s house with a smile on his face.
Defense attorney James G. Enright asked the Superior Court jury to spare Tafoya’s life.
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