Gang Member Given Death Sentence in 3 Murders

A gang member convicted of killing two teenagers and ordering the slaying of a man he thought would report him to police was sentenced to death Wednesday.

Richard Penunuri, 22, was sentenced by Pomona Superior Court Judge Robert Armstrong.

Armstrong also sentenced Joseph Michael Castro Jr., 22, and Arthur Bermudez, 24, to life in prison plus an additional 25 years for the murder of Jaime Castillo.

Penunuri was convicted on Dec. 15 of the 1997 gang-related slayings of Mike Murillo and Bryan Molina in Whittier.

While in County Jail, Penunuri ordered Castro and Bermudez to kill Castillo. The two men led Castillo to the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa in January 1998 and shot him, said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Camacho.

“I’m relieved that the families of the three boys who died got some justice,” he said.

“They were ecstatic. Not that someone was going to die. But that it was finally over.”

Penunuri was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of robbery, assault with a firearm and the special circumstance of murder of a witness, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Penunuri’s defense attorney, Barry O. Bernstein, said the jury was intimidated throughout the trial. Castro and Bermudez should have been tried separately, Bernstein said.

“The whole conviction was unjust,” he said.