- Convicted murder Joseph Cordova, 62, testifies during the penalty phase in Contra Costa Superior Court on Wednesday, February 7, 2007.
Posted on 05/12/2007 2:37:46 PM PDT by SmithL
A Contra Costa Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced a former Richmond man to death for raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl three decades ago.
Joseph Cordova, 63, leaned on his elbows in a Martinez courtroom and showed no emotion as the judge condemned him to die for the 1979 killing of Cannie "Candy" Bullock.
"At no point has Mr. Cordova evinced any remorse for the crime, not only denying that he perpetrated it in the face of all-but-conclusive DNA evidence to the contrary, but not even showing any sympathy for what happened to the child," Judge Peter Spinetta said before ordering Cordova sent to death row at San Quentin State Prison.
Friday's hearing ended a brutal case that went unsolved for 23 years. A jury convicted Cordova in January. The next month, the same jury recommended his execution.
The sentencing hearing was briefer than most. The attorneys spoke few words. Cordova's family said nothing. As on each day of trial, none of Cannie's family showed up to watch.
"She was just a sweet little girl," Cannie's baby sitter, Melissa Martinez, said by phone after the hearing. "I'd take her to the parks. She was like my own daughter."
Cannie's mother, Linda Baum, went out drinking on the night of Aug. 24, 1979, and left the girl alone. Cannie's body was found early the next morning. She had been strangled, her body left in the backyard of her home.
Cordova had visited the house in the past because he slept with Baum.
"There was no evidence Advertisement of breaking and entering," Spinetta said Friday. "And it appears the defendant, Mr. Cordova, gained entry by trading on the child's innocence and trust."
At trial, Cordova's attorneys said Cordova left his sperm in the bedsheets, which may have transferred to Cannie while she slept in the same sheets.
Years passed without any suspects in the slaying. In 1996, San Pablo police opened the grave of one of Cannie's neighbors, William Flores, who knew Cannie and could not account for his whereabouts the night of the killing.
Investigators said at the time that his sister believed Flores was the killer and that he had returned home with blood on his shirt the night of the killing. But his DNA did not match sexual assault evidence at the crime scene.
Investigators matched that evidence with Cordova in 2002 through a national DNA database. They found him in a Colorado prison serving a sentence for child molestation.
On Friday, Spinetta noted how the killing had affected Cannie's family. Her father was unable to testify because he still cannot talk about his daughter's death. Her stepmother made a dress for the girl and left it hanging in the closet for decades.
Cordova's attorneys, the prosecutor and jurors acknowledged that the aging killer, who has hepatitis and diabetes, will most likely die before he is executed.
Defense attorney Mitchell Hauptman told Spinetta on Friday that Cordova preferred death row, where general population inmates cannot attack him.
"He does not wish to change the verdict," Hauptman told the judge.
Spinetta responded that Cordova's preference did not matter to him. He said he is sending the defendant there for his crime.
One of Cordova's former wives, Lupe Snasel, said outside the courtroom that she still believes he is innocent but feels he can live on death row.
"He'll be safer," Snasel said. "We can visit him."
Spinetta ordered the Sheriff's Office to transfer Cordova within 10 days to San Quentin State Prison, where will join 664 other inmates on death row.
The state has executed 14 people since 1978.
As the bailiff escorted Cordova, whose arms are covered with tattoos, from the courtroom, he spoke over his shoulder to his family.
"See y'all later," he said. "I'll write you."
- Convicted murder Joseph Cordova, 62, testifies during the penalty phase in Contra Costa Superior Court on Wednesday, February 7, 2007.
This scum knows that he'll live a lot longer on death row than in the general population.
They should execute him tomorrow. I keep hearing all of these liberal do-gooders crying about the cost of capitol punishment.
Stop the horse crap and fry these character within 60 days. Doesnt cost much that way.
How much longer will this scum live?
Hmm. And meanwhile, McVeigh was exectuted reeallly fast.
The guy will never be executed. It is California. I think the usual time between sentence and execution is over 20 years and this bozo is 62. But at least he will never be out to hurt anybody else.
Timothy McVeigh waived all rights of appeal in his case, that is why he was executed so quickly after his conviction.
Im Glad Mc Viegh saw a quick fate.
He is incapable of such feelings. He is a sociopath, a bug in human form that needs to be squashed, soon.
skin him alive... then set his azz on FIRE!!!
Average time on death row in California is 10 years, according to the DOJ. But some stay on death row for many years more. If Cordova's lawyers are skillful and don't mind investing a lot of resources, they could delay justice for quite awhile. Then again, diabetes and hepatitis have been known to make these issues moot. No matter what happens, Cordova will face God, just as we all will.
There are some who would say, "Why wait till tomorrow?" And I have to admit they've got a point. The way so many of these sad cases go, by the time someone like Cordova is finally brought down for good, justice has miscarried many, many times.
From another article...
“hey should execute him tomorrow.”
Agreed, presumabliy he’ll live that long, and then no longer.
It’s probably just as well that they didn’t catch him when it happened - in the 1970s, California’s sentencing policies for things like rape and murder practically amounted to a reward for doing such things. A couple of years doing body-building on the taxpayer’s dime, and they were out again.
Dead men tell no tales.
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