A state appeals court panel Tuesday ordered a new hearing for three men convicted in connection with the bludgeoning and slashing death of a Harbor City restaurant cook during a takeover robbery more than two decades ago.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that Jerrell Douglas Jones, Roderick Tushawn Lipsey and James Williams Matthews — who are seeking re-sentencing under a state law that affects defendants in some murder cases — are entitled to an evidentiary hearing.
Superior Court Judge Laura L. Laesecke had denied the defendants’ petitions for re-sentencing last year, finding that they “failed to present a prima facie case of eligibility for resentencing relief,” according to the appellate court panel’s eight-page ruling.
Jones, Lipsey and Matthews were convicted in 2001 of first-degree murder for the Dec. 13, 1998, attack on Galindo Venegas, who died six days after he was struck on the head and had his throat slashed for failing to come up with the safe combination at the Grinder restaurant, 1301 W. Sepulveda Blvd.
The three also were found guilty of robbery, attempted robbery and assault with a firearm.
Jones was also convicted of forcible rape, oral copulation and sexual battery by restraint involving a female customer later forced to stand naked on her head in the corner.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Jones and Lipsey, but a jury recommended instead that they spend the rest of their lives in prison without the possibility of parole. The prosecution did not seek the death penalty against Matthews, who is also serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.