Woman Gets Prison in Blood Feud Slaying

A Tulare County woman who took part in the revenge killing of a distant relative to settle scores in a long-running family dispute was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in state prison.

Maria Campos Rodriguez, 36, of Delano, was ordered by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael Hoff to serve the maximum term behind bars after she pleaded guilty in September to manslaughter in the death of Gerardo Lizarraga, a Sun Valley man who was slain at his home in July 1996.

Lizarraga, shot once in the head as he sat on his front porch, was killed a month after Rodriguez, her half-brother Reynaldo Acosta Campos and cousin Zepharino Campos allegedly discussed exacting revenge for the deaths of two uncles in Mexico, authorities said.

Police said witnesses identified the gray Mercury Marquis driven by Rodriguez to Lizarraga’s neighborhood. Police quickly linked Rodriguez to the killing by a pager found at the crime scene.

In a preliminary hearing for Rodriquez, police detectives testified that family members told authorities they believed Lizarraga’s father supplied the weapon that killed their relatives.

Defense attorney Michael Zimbert said the victim and the co-defendants were part of two families involved in a generations-old blood feud that originated over cattle and land.

Zepharino Campos was sentenced to six years in prison last year after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Reynaldo Campos still faces trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.