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Illegal Alien Cop Killer Could Face Death Penalty -- 05/13/2008
Illegal Alien Cop Killer Could Face Death Penalty
By Penny Starr
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
May 13, 2008
(CNSNews.com) - A Harris County, Texas, jury is beginning deliberations in the punishment phase of the capital murder trial of an illegal alien who killed a Houston police officer. Juan Leonardo Quintero was convicted May 8 of killing Officer Rodney Johnson after Johnson pulled over Quintero in September 2006.
Quintero had a previous conviction for driving while intoxicated, and he received deferred adjudication for indecency with a child before being deported to his native Mexico in 1999. He slipped back into the country that same year.
In 2006, as Quintero sat handcuffed in the back of Johnson's police cruiser, he took a gun from his waistband and shot the 12-year police veteran seven times as Johnson was filling out paperwork in the front seat of his vehicle.
Before convicting Quintero, the jury rejected the defense's claim that a childhood head injury and excessive alcohol consumption since the age of eight led to the killing.
Lead defense attorney Danalynn Recer, who also is the founder and executive director of the Gulf Region Advocacy Center, which represents indigent persons charged with capital crimes in the state courts of Texas and Louisiana, argued that Quintero was "not guilty by reason of insanity."
"There's no way Mr. Quintero ... logically, rationally decided to shoot Officer Johnson," Recer said. "It's a puzzle that we have to put together."
"Officer Johnson was a hero," Recer said in her closing remarks. "He was a family man. We have an explanation. It's just not the quick, easy, bumper-sticker explanation the prosecution wants you to believe."
Johnson, who was 40 when he was gunned down, was described by colleagues, family and friends as a dedicated father and husband. Before joining the Houston police force, he was a corrections officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and served in the U.S. Army.
He is survived by his wife of seven years, Joslyn, also a police officer, three daughters and two sons.
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