A 53-year-old man who fatally beat another man with a baseball bat in Thermal was found guilty Tuesday of murder, triggering a second phase of his trial for jurors to determine if he was legally sane at the time of the crime.
After a week of deliberations at the Banning Justice Center, jurors convicted Saul Mayoral for the March 23, 2018, killing of a man identified by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office as Hector Quinones. Jurors also found true a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a weapon during the felony.
Mayoral contended he was acting in self-defense when the victim came after him with a pipe.
He had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges, meaning that a second phase of trial will be held to determine if he was sane at the time of the crime.
The sanity phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Thursday.
Mayoral’s attorney, Alex Hallowell, claimed that evidence provided in the case does show an altercation occurred between the defendant and the victim, but little is known about what actually happened during the confrontation.
Hallowell claimed that Mayoral’s psychosis altered his reality, and because of that, his client could have truly believed he was defending himself from Quinones.
“He was seeing things that made him believe this was self-defense. He was mistaken, but he thought it was self-defense,” Hallowell said.
Hallowell told jurors that Mayoral should be held responsible for what happened, but because of his mental condition and the lack of evidence to show what happened during the altercation, intent to kill could not be proven, and thus he should not be convicted of murder, but voluntary manslaughter at most.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Hightower told jurors that what occurred was a “clear, brutal, targeted attack.” Hightower dismissed the claim of self-defense by stating that Mayoral went out of his way to retrieve the bat beforehand and struck Quinones multiple times in the head while the victim was on the ground.
Hightower also noted that the defendant discarded his phone after the killing, indicating he was aware of his actions and of the gravity of them.
It was only after failing to hide what he did that Mayoral began to look for “any excuse to avoid responsibility,” such as claiming self-defense and insanity, according to Hightower.
A local resident discovered Quinones’ body in a drainage channel near Mayoral’s mobile home at 7:17 a.m. on March 23, 2018, in the 87800 block of Avenue 52 and flagged down deputies, according to Sgt. Wallace Clear of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. A bat and a pipe were found at the scene.
Mayoral approached authorities later that day with what appeared to be blood on him. When questioned, Mayoral admitted to striking Quinones with the bat, but claimed it was in self-defense, saying the victim came at him with a pipe, officials said.
Prosecutors said Mayoral admitted what he did was “a mistake.”
At the time of his arrest, Mayoral was on probation for battery committed against a custodial officer, according to court records.