A tattooed gang member who wrote rap lyrics describing details of a killing — but who denied being involved in the crime — was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder in the killing of a father of two in Redondo Beach.
The victim was shot in the back just over three years ago, and during a search of the suspect’s rented room, investigators found rap lyrics referring to shooting someone five times in the back and disappearing “like Houdini,” officials said.
The real-life victim was shot four times in the back and suffered a graze wound to the head five days after being asked where he was from, according to the prosecution.
Jurors deliberated less than three hours before finding Erick Julian Ortega, 30, guilty of first-degree murder for the June 21, 2013 shooting death of Bobby Reynolds, 38, said Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Turk.
The jury also convicted Ortega of being a felon in possession of a firearm, along with finding true allegations that he committed the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang and that he personally discharged a firearm, according to the prosecutor.
Ortega was arrested in May 2014 after authorities got a tip that he had fled to Utah, where he was working as a dishwasher in a restaurant, authorities said.
Ortega’s tattoos, inked across his body, helped to identify him to the tipster, who had seen an FBI wanted poster online, according to authorities.
He refused to identify himself when he was confronted by agents from the FBI’s Salt Lake City office with a warrant for his arrest, and had identification bearing his photo with someone else’s name, authorities said.
Ortega testified in his own defense. He contended that someone else had committed the crime and that he was told the details about the killing from that man after the crime.
Ortega — who has a 2005 conviction for criminal threats — is facing at least 80 years to life in state prison, Turk said. He is set to be sentenced Aug. 3 in a Torrance courtroom by Superior Court Judge Mark Arnold.
— City News Service