A state appeals court panel Wednesday upheld a man’s second-degree murder conviction for the 1995 shooting death of a Caltech custodian who was in a relationship with his killer’s estranged wife.
A three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support Raul Alcazar Romero’s conviction for the April 21, 1995, killing of Francisco Mora.
“We conclude that the defendant’s conviction of second-degree murder is supported by substantial evidence,” the appellate court panel found in a 13- page ruling.
Romero pointed a gun at Mora as he ate lunch with Romero’s estranged wife near a loading dock at Caltech and shot Mora multiple times.
The woman ran from the scene and received a letter from Romero in August 1996 in which he wrote that he was “never sorry for what I did” and “if (Mora) were to be born again, I would kill him again, I swear,” according to the appellate court panel’s ruling. She forwarded the letter to the Pasadena Police Department.
Romero — who later went to work as a police officer in Mexico — was arrested by authorities there and turned over in March 2012 to Pasadena police, to whom he confessed his involvement in the shooting.
He was sentenced in February 2014 to 25 years to life in state prison.
— City News Service