Updated: Former LAFD Captain Convicted of 2nd Degree Murder
A jury finds veteran firefighter David Del Toro guilty of murdering Jennifer Flores.
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A jury Thursday morning found former Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. David Del Toro guilty of second-degree murder in the 2006 killing of Jennifer Flores.
The unanimous verdict was handed down by a 12-member jury panel in a packed courtroom presided over by L.A. County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus, bringing to an end a prolonged jury selection followed by a month-long trial and one of the longest-running murder cases in Los Angeles’ recent memory. (Judge Lance Ito was away on a court-related speaking engagement in Sacramento.)
In its verdict, the jury chose not to convict Del Toro of either manslaughter, a lesser charge, or first-degree murder, a more serious charge. Del Toro faces 15 years to life; no date has been set for sentencing yet.
Update: Deputy District Attorney Robert Grace said it could be a while before Del Toro is sentenced. Grace also said that although Del Toro is eligible for parole after 15 years, it's fairly difficult for murder convicts to get parole in California.
Del Toro, a 23-year veteran of the Fire Department, was convicted in the murder of Flores, a 42-year-old San Gabriel woman whose mangled and nearly nude body was found two blocks from his Eagle Rock home on Aug. 16, 2006. A trail of Flores’ blood and DNA led detectives to the fire captain’s residence.
Del Toro, 54, had pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, arguing that he suffered from an alcohol-induced blackout that prevented him from remembering exactly what happened on the night Flores was killed.
The veteran firefighter admitted, however, that instead of calling police he tried to clean a bloody mess in his living room on the night of Flores’ murder—and then failed to mention the clean-up effort to police.
Further Update: Defense attorney Joseph Gutierrez plans to file a motion on April 15 for possible mistrial, based on any evidence that he might be able to present to Judge Ito, showing whether the 12-member jury was influenced by the comments of a juror who was ordered to leave the jury panel last Monday, March 14, for violating Ito's instructions to focus only on Del Toro's conduct and not to discuss prison sentences arising from his alleged misconduct during jury deliberations. The day after that juror's name was struck off the jury panel, a second juror said she did not believe she could reach a fair verdict after having heard comments pertaining to sentencing.
Check back for more details about the verdict and its implications in our upcoming story.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Judge Lance Ito presided over Thursday's court session. Patch regrets the error.
Moonstarr
9:41 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
what is the time line for 2nd degree?
Ajay Singh
10:23 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
15 years to life, Moonstarr.
Charles Lindner
6:46 pm on Monday, March 21, 2011
I am one of Defense Attorney Joe Gutierrez's colleagues (as well as DDA Bobby Grace's). The answer regarding "how long" Del Toro will be imprisoned is effectively life imprisonment without any realistic possibility of parole. Very few murderers are ever paroled, and the nature of this particular murder plus Del Toro's claim that he had no memory of any of the events means that he is very likely going to die in prison, although he will technically have a parole board opportunity around 13 years into his prison term. The parole board always insists that the defendant accept responsibility for his actions, an unlikely scenario based on his trial testimony.
James M.
7:29 pm on Monday, March 21, 2011
I thought we were waiting for Judge Ito to return for sentencing.
Cynthia A
10:18 am on Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Charles: thank you for the information. I understand that based on your experience it seems an unlikely scenario that he would not accept responsibility... Is this common? If a person could be paroled by accepting their responsibility why would they not do it?
Valley Resident
9:46 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Im glad its over..thanks for the reporting AJ
Horace
9:48 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Burn in hell Del Toro. It was only a matter of time! Lets see where his supporters are now!
Moonstarr
10:27 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
weren't his many supporters in the court room this morning?
Cynthia A
10:05 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I believe had I been on the jury and with the information I know, I would have most likely gone for 2nd degree. To me....and I could be wrong....but 1st degree is more of plotting. Yes, he did use 2 methods to kill her, however, I believe it was in a fit of rage.
Looks like the jury did a good job.
I hope for her family's sake he gets the max on the years. I don't care how many lives he has saved doing his job....she was a human being and he robbed her of any chance she may have had in this world.
(that's my 2 cents!)
Ajay Singh
12:58 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Cynthia, regarding your question about the possibility of Del Toro getting more than a 15-year sentence: No, he will get 15 years (minus the time he has already spent in jail since Nov. 2006) before he becomes eligible for parole. No more no less. But getting parole is tough in California. Which could mean a lifetime in prison.
Ken Camp
10:15 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I guess we can cancel that dinner reservation at Columbo's . . .
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
Chip
11:12 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
@Ken-
I don't get the Columbo's reference. Why cancel dinner reservations? Thanx.
-Chip
Ken Camp
11:20 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Just a joke, Chip. Columbo's is a popular Eagle Rock eatery/bar, most likely where the Del Toro team would have celebrated tonight had he been acquitted.
On a personal note, when my jury acquitted the young man of murder charges, later we took him and his family out to sa nice lunch to celebrate.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
Cynthia A
10:17 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ajay - Do you know anything about how many years he could be facing?
Ajay Singh
10:25 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Cynthia: 15 years to life, potentially, with eligibility for parole—evidently hard to get for murder in California—after 15 years. (It would have been 25 years to life if he were convicted of first-degree murder.)
Cynthia A
10:33 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I see, thank you Ajay. So 15 years though is the minimum? They could recommend and give him more, correct?
Moonstarr
10:22 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
drunk or not if anyone here on this blog has been drunk way drunk, we all know what we are doing if we beat up someone or hit them out of anger I don't care 1st degree 2nd degree taking a life is a life period......at least David's family can visit him as Captain of the cell block in prison. put Jennifer's family can't visit her anywhere.
Ken Camp
10:27 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Moonstarr-- if that is your real name -- you don't understand the law. First degree murder usually requires planning, lying in wait, hiding evidence, etc. Second degree murder is usually not planned in advance, arises from insane emotion or sudden rage, and is not gauged by public anger or resentment. The law is the law is the law, just as dead is dead is dead.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
Moonstarr
10:26 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ajay, does that mean he will get less than 15yrs for good behavior ?
Ken Camp
10:32 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I'm not Ajay, but he already has four years served, plus as a proud specimen of L.A.'s finest, he has a tradition of having his boots licked at whim by any number of obliging community members and politicians.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
Ajay Singh
12:56 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Moonstarr: No, Del Toro will have to serve a total of 15 years, which will *include the time that he has been in jail* since November 2006, before he's eligible for parole. (But given the difficulty for murder convicts to get parole in California, Del Toro could well spend the rest of his life in prison, which effectively means that there's not substantive difference between a second-degree verdict and a first-degree verdict, in which eligibility for parole would have begun only after 25 years in prison.)
Moonstarr
10:34 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
yeah Ken I don't know much about the Law of Man, but I do about Divine Law, and so dead is dead eye for eye regardless what motivated David anger did it and he knew what he was doing
Ken Camp
10:36 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tell me more.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
Moonstarr
10:35 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
moonstarr is not my real name I gave it in the get go of this blog in Jan.
Cynthia A
10:47 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ken...I read your comment on another article and so I see you are being sarcastic. Phew! I deleted my other comment in case you read it!
Catlady
10:58 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Moonstarr, why so angry? This is so sad that it happened. But I don't believe she was the perfect angel in this situation....What Dave did was wrong. If he did ? We were not there. Who are we to judge? God will. God teaches us to forgive and learn from lives tragedy. God bless her family and Dave's too. So sorry this happened...
Moonstarr
11:08 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
not angry discussed why do you put it as Jennifer not perfect all that read everything on this case knows that. What I say I knew of him I did, of coures we were not there or maybe it would not have happened, we all have opinions on this case, judge, how could any human judge another we did not create ourselves or can create life only God can. you could read my blogs under my blog name to understand my sadness in the case, btw do you have a daughter? to know what you would feel if this was her fate.
Cynthia A
11:12 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
So if we are not "perfect' we deserve to be beaten and strangled to death?
Do prostitues deserve to be beaten or raped? I agree that we are responsible for our actions and sometimes people put themselves in danger for needless reasons, but she didn't deserve to be murdered.
"If he did"??? Wow.
Moonstarr
11:00 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
so what Cynthia A you have been sarcastic too we all have in one way or another :)
Ken Camp
11:17 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Cynthia wrote: "So if we are not "perfect' we deserve to be beaten and strangled to death?
Do prostitues deserve to be beaten or raped? I agree that we are responsible for our actions and sometimes people put themselves in danger for needless reasons, but she didn't deserve to be murdered.
"If he did"??? Wow."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I was thinking about that, the horrors the Flores family went through due to her "lifestyle." Of course nobody deserves to be murdered and people make bad choices. Ultimately it is David Del Toro and others like him who are to be judged.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
Moonstarr
11:23 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Cynthia, who SAID she deserves what happened to her?????????? surley not me, I just threw out the cousin of the best friend of David he kept talking way to much shit about Jennifer who I did not know but I woun't stand for it, I have 2 dtr's and would shutter if that happened to them.
Cynthia A
11:34 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I didn't say you "said" anything. No need to shout. I was just asking a question...besides I was asking Catlady.
Ken Camp
11:36 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Considering the reported arrogant behavior of Del Toro's family and sisters inside the courtroom, especially their hostile moves against the Flores family, it seems that the Del Toro family has had a history of pushing others around, being ugly, getting their way. Finally people stopped looking the other way. It may take a village, but this sick duck was created by his loving family.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
jonathan Martin
12:30 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Thank God justice has been served! Maybe now....everyone blogging here can quit the bashing againsts each other. As for the case itself....it's finally over and hopefully the healing process for the families can begin. The Del Toro's still have their loved one (although he will be behind bars...he's alive)! The Flores family have lost a part of their lives they can never get back. Jennifer may not have been perfect but she had a lot of great qualities. She was funny, poised and was fun to be around. She was also very intelligent and she was beautiful. She will be missed.
Moonstarr
12:59 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2011
thanks Ajay....
Jeff
2:36 pm on Thursday, March 17, 2011
Case closed
Time to disagree on another topic
Cynthia A
11:23 am on Friday, March 18, 2011
Regrading your update: I understand that David wants to get out, but what I find very disheartening is that he and his family are spending all of this money on legal fees. He is not innocent. I guess it's easy for me to comment since I am not involved, but I would just cut my losses now. Do your time, be a good citizen in prison and you might get out in time to have some quality time with your family. But they are listening to someone who is taking their money and who feeds into their denial.
And to add to this, her family can now sue him for every penny he has left.
It's clearly not over.
James M.
5:53 pm on Friday, March 18, 2011
I'm sure we would all agree that a price tag cannot be placed on freedom. Therefore, "team Del Toro" may indeed pursue an appeal of his guilty verdict based upon the juror misconduct decisions in this trial if nothing else (refer back to http://www.akingump.com/docs/publication/385.pdf for more information). I suppose their hope would be that next time around - if they were granted a next time around - a more sympathetic jury would be assembled which would acquit him, or convict him of a lesser charge than second-degree murder. And who knows - they may have the resources to seek this opportunity at any cost in the name of his freedom.
Think about it: job applications don't ask if the applicant has been *accused* of a felony, they only ask if the applicant has been *convicted* of a felony. So Del Toro, if acquitted upon appeal, could get a job somewhere else and resume his lifestyle with only this four-year bump in the road of his life.
I don't see any of this happening, but that's just my opinion. In fact, I'm not sure Del Toro will live to see his 70th birthday in prison; generally speaking our inmate population doesn't take too kindly to his style of crime.
As far as civil damages, I believe the Flores family has every right to pursue a wrongful death suit against Del Toro (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_death_claim).
Cynthia A
6:00 pm on Friday, March 18, 2011
James, agreed. There is no price to place on freedom and it is David's very right to pursue.
I, too, don't believe the verdict will change...but that's his decision and right to pursue.
Cynthia A
12:02 pm on Friday, March 18, 2011
I assume they can, but I am not an expert! But that's why I would just cut my losses now. Again, it's easy for me to say that.
I'm curious....what did his attorney say in court about the house?
And without revealing your identity (Justus) are you related or a close friend to anyone involved? I am only asking because you seem very angry....and I am sorry if you are still very angry ....or am I just reading you wrong??? If I am wrong, I apologize.
michele marino
1:16 am on Saturday, March 19, 2011
This is my first exposure to this case. I am curious to know the details. Where might I read about this?
James M.
7:12 am on Saturday, March 19, 2011
Check the "see more on Patch" sidebar to the right. Or, go to the eaglerock.patch.com home page then click on >news >police & fire, and scroll down to January 21 - the date of the first article - then work your way up. This is the only news outlet that provided blow-by-blow coverage of the trial.
Moonstarr
7:55 pm on Saturday, March 19, 2011
yep I see that lamer cleaning up "his" mess, but I was saying to seenitall, he felt the jury make a mistake David did not do it per Seenitall.
Jake
10:28 pm on Saturday, March 19, 2011
@Seenitall, you can say all you want... But ain't nobody will believe ya! Save the breath for your own crowd & have your own pity party. Too late. You're deceived.
James M.
6:36 am on Friday, April 15, 2011
Sentencing is today, correct?
Cynthia A
11:25 am on Monday, April 18, 2011
Does anyone know if David's attorney filed the motion last week?
M. Myers
5:41 pm on Monday, April 18, 2011
Don't have access to criminal web site to verify (unless you want to pay), but LACSD website says his next court appearance is 5/6/11. Motions for New Trial (CCP Section 657) can be filed for several reasons, most likely newly discovered evidence, jury misconduct or prosecutorial misconduct; prosecution can request additional time to respond to any motion and the affidavits filed in support thereof by David's attorney. This could go on for some time before he is actually sentenced.
Cynthia A
5:54 pm on Monday, April 18, 2011
Thanks!!!