Life in Prison or Death?

Ventura County jurors who convicted serial rapist Vincent Sanchez of first-degree murder spent five hours considering a death sentence for him on Tuesday, the first day of deliberations in the penalty phase of his trial.

Sanchez, 32, shot a community college student in Moorpark as she drove home on July 5, 2001. Jurors concluded after a three-month trial that Sanchez kidnapped and attempted to rape Megan Barroso, 20, after he shot her. They must now decide one of two sentences: life in prison without parole or death.

During closing arguments of the penalty phase, prosecutors portrayed Sanchez as a predator who sexually assaulted more than a dozen women in Simi Valley before he killed Barroso. They said that Sanchez, a former Simi Valley construction worker, has no redeeming qualities and deserves to die for his crime.

But defense lawyers argued that Sanchez, who already faces a life sentence in prison after pleading guilty to the prior sex assaults, no longer poses a threat to society and would be severely punished by imprisonment with no chance at parole.

The seven men and five women on the jury are expected to resume deliberations today.