Azusa ex-boyfriend convicted of killing 17-year-old cheerleader – NBC Los Angeles

A younger man who was in an on-again, off-again relationship with a 17-year-old Azusa Excessive Faculty cheerleader was convicted Tuesday of first-degree homicide for stabbing her to loss of life after a battle almost two years in the past.

Jurors deliberated for about two hours earlier than discovering Daniel Rodriguez responsible in reference to the Dec. 20, 2024, killing of Angelina “Angel” Gonzales, in keeping with the Los Angeles County District Lawyer’s Workplace.

Together with the homicide cost, jurors discovered true an allegation that he used a knife through the fee of the crime.

Rodriguez, who was 18 on the time and is now 20,  is due again in a Pomona courtroom for sentencing Dec. 8. He’s dealing with a most of 26 years to life in state jail, in keeping with the District Lawyer’s Workplace.

Deputy District Lawyer Brittany Saleeby mentioned in her opening assertion final Thursday that she would ask the Pomona jury to convict Rodriguez of homicide, whereas protection legal professional Gary Meastas countered that his consumer had acted impulsively.

An 18-year-old man was charged on Tuesday within the stabbing loss of life of an Azusa Excessive Faculty cheerleader.

The prosecutor advised jurors that Rodriguez picked up the teenager after a cheerleading banquet 5 days earlier than Christmas, took her to his home in Azusa and have become upset after she accused him of dishonest when she noticed scratches on him and requested to see his cellphone.

The prosecutor mentioned the defendant tried to hug the lady, punched her twice within the face earlier than she left the house, armed himself with a knife from the kitchen, adopted her exterior and stabbed her.

“When he stabbed her, he had one other selection — to assist her — as a result of he heard her saying, `Assist me! Assist me!”’ Saleeby advised the panel, noting that Rodriguez as a substitute selected to get the keys to his mom’s Hyundai Sonata and flee from the scene as a substitute of serving to the sufferer.

The prosecutor mentioned the case was not a “whodunit” as a result of the defendant acknowledged he did it, telling jurors they must determine if the killing is homicide or one thing lesser.

Rodriguez’s legal professional advised jurors that the couple’s on-again, off-again relationship “took a darkish flip” that evening.

“The proof will show … Daniel Rodriguez acted impulsively,” he mentioned.

Rodriguez’s lawyer acknowledged that his consumer had stabbed the teenager, saying that it occurred within the warmth of ardour or a sudden quarrel. The younger man was “brutally trustworthy” when he spoke to detectives after his arrest about what had occurred that evening, he mentioned.

“Discover him responsible for what he really did on this case,” Meastas advised the jury, saying he would ask them to conclude that Rodriguez is responsible of the “extraordinarily severe cost of voluntary manslaughter.”

Through the trial, jurors heard Rodriguez’s videotaped interview with Los Angeles County sheriff’s murder detectives following his arrest a day after the killing.

The defendant mentioned the 2 had gotten again collectively about two weeks earlier after an “on-and-off” relationship, noting that “it was very irritating” that she did not imagine him when she confronted him about her suspicion that he had cheated on her when he took off his shirt and she or he noticed scratches on his again.

Rodriguez advised detectives that he tried to carry her and that she pushed him away earlier than she started hitting him in his shoulder space. He mentioned he obtained upset and hit her within the face, saying he believed that he struck her twice earlier than she walked exterior his residence.

“I used to be simply terrified of, you already know, getting in bother for hitting her, her simply leaving typically,” he mentioned within the videotaped interview.

Rodriguez mentioned he grabbed a knife from a kitchen drawer, adopted after her and stabbed her, along with his girlfriend reacting by screaming, “Assist me!” and attempting to run.

He advised detectives that he drove again later to the world, noticed the road blocked off and determined to go to his sister’s residence in El Monte however had not gotten there when he was pulled over by an Azusa police officer the subsequent day.

Sheriff’s Detective Araceli Sanchez testified that investigators had not knowledgeable Rodriguez of his girlfriend’s standing earlier than the interview, explaining that usually individuals will shut down or not wish to speak to them if they’re advised one in every of their family members is lifeless.

Jurors additionally heard two 911 calls from neighbors after the stabbing, and noticed bodycam video from now-former Alhambra Police Division Cpl. Andrew Avalos, who repeatedly implored the teenager to “keep awake” and “breathe” after unsuccessfully asking her, “Who did this?”

The lady’s mom, Leticia Caraballo, referred to as her daughter “superb” and an “over-achiever” who all the time cherished college, and took part in artwork competitions and cheerleading. When requested if she knew the defendant, she mentioned, “Sadly, sure.”

The lady’s mom mentioned Rodriguez had been “very disrespectful to me” and that she believed the 2 had damaged up that summer season. She mentioned she hadn’t heard her daughter point out him that day and questioned why her cellphone’s location confirmed it at his home when she had didn’t return residence that evening.

She testified that she was advised to go to the Azusa police station, rising emotional as she recounted being knowledgeable that her daughter had been in a battle and did not make it.

Rodriguez has remained behind bars since his arrest.