Man found guilty for killing girlfriend's family, taking kids to Mexico
Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 1, 2007 01:48 PM

A man who had to be extradited from Mexico to stand trial for murder was found guilty Wednesday of shooting three people to death in 2005 and then illegally taking his own children to Mexico.

Prosecutors had to waive their right to seek the death penalty against Rodrigo Cervantes Zavala before Mexican authorities would turn him over.

On Wednesday, a Maricopa County Superior jury convicted him of three counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary and two counts of custodial interference. Along with the death penalty, prosecutors also had to waive a possible sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. The only remaining sentence is life in prison with chance of parole after 25 years. When Judge L. Grant imposes sentence on Sept. 21, he will determine whether Cervantes Zavala, 36, will serve those sentences concurrently or consecutively.

According to court testimony Cervantes Zavala was feuding with Isabel Acosta, the mother of two of his children, Jennifer, then 3, and Brian, 18 months. She had an order of protection against him, but would occasionally bring the children to meet him.

Prosecutor Jeannette Gallagher claimed that Cervantes Zavala wanted Acosta back, and if she didn't come back willingly, he would make her miserable.

Acosta was living with her parents and her brother near Queen Creek. She was not home on the evening of July 10, 2005, when Cervantes Zavala came to their house with another man.

He shot and killed Jesus Manuel Acosta, 17, Saul Lopez Acosta, 63 , and Trinidad Castro Acosta, 51, and tried to make it look as if a robbery had occurred at the house. The man who Zavala asked to drive him to the Acosta's home secretly called 911.

But Cervantes Zavala took the children and made it over the Mexican border before authorities could stop him. The county's Amber Alert procedures were changed in the wake of that escape. Cervantes Zavala was arrested five days later in Puerto Vallarta. The children were returned safely to their mother.

Cervantes Zavala's attorney, Jason Goldstein, told the jury that Cervantes Zavala had acted in self defense. The jury did not believe him.

The older child, Jennifer, was killed in a car accident in February 2006.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/pina ... 1-ONL.html


The article fails to tell you they were all illegal aliens, but I recall this from the original incident. They flew the mother down to retrieve her kids when they were found and I asked then, why didn't they keep them all in Mexico, but they obviously needed her here to testify against him in court. I'm sure they have no plans to deport now that the trial is over.