Gang Member Gets Death Sentence in ’94 Carjack Killings

A San Pedro gang member was sentenced to death Monday for the 1994 carjacking murders of two Marymount College film students from Japan, where the incident prompted sharp criticism of Los Angeles’ “gun culture.”

Raymond Oscar “Mugsy” Butler, 21, twitched nervously as a Long Beach Superior Court judge upheld a jury’s recommendation that he be put to death rather than spend the rest of his life in prison for the execution-style slayings of Takuma Ito and Go Matsuura, both 19. Butler was convicted in March of killing Ito and Matsuura on March 25, 1994.

During the sentencing hearing, Superior Court Judge James Pierce called Butler “a savage brute” whose history of drug, alcohol and family problems did not excuse the “revolting circumstances” involving the murders.

The shootings resounded across Japan, where newspaper editorials called the incident typical of life in Southern California. After the killings, President Clinton immediately expressed condolences to then-Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. Mayor Richard Riordan held a news conference with Japanese Consul General Seiichiro Noboru to reassure tourists from Japan that they could travel safely in Los Angeles.

In a brief statement issued in Los Angeles after Monday’s sentencing, acting Consul General Osamu Yoshihara expressed faith in the U.S. justice system. “We trust in the American judicial system,” Yoshihara said.

Marymount College President Thomas McFadden said the sentence was expected because of the “terrible” nature of the murders.

Butler’s attorney, Jim Hallett, said he was disappointed by the sentence. “I don’t think [Butler] is a stone-cold killer,” Hallett said. “It was just a single, momentary act of senseless violence, which is inconsistent with Raymond’s character.”

Butler was on probation for residential burglary when he killed Ito, a Japanese citizen, and Matsuura, a U.S. citizen born in Japan. The two had met other students in the parking lot of a San Pedro supermarket to begin looking for a place to stay because their dorm rooms had been closed for spring break.

Ito and Matsuura were standing beside a white 1994 Honda Civic when Butler walked up and demanded the car keys. Police said he forced them to kneel. The other Marymount students, who were in another car, went for help.

Butler then shot Ito and Matsuura, both in the back of the head. Two days later, police found the car nearby with its stereo missing.

After an investigation that involved as many as 30 officers, police also charged 20-year-old Alberto Vasquez Reygoza, a gang member from the same San Pedro neighborhood as Butler, with receiving stolen property. Reygoza pleaded guilty and is now serving a 32-month sentence.

Butler, along with two other men, is now facing trial in another murder case. The three are charged with killing a fourth inmate in the Men’s Central Jail in March 1995. The slaying occurred after Butler was jailed in the killing of the two students.