Thread: Guilty in 2005 killings/kidnapping by Mexican National

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.

Side note:

Hit-and-run driver kills girl in Phoenix kidnap case
Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 24, 2006
PHOENIX (AP) -- A 4-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped by her father last summer in an attack that also left three relatives dead was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver, authorities said.

Jennifer Cervantes was playing outside a mini-mart where her mother was selling items a few feet away when she was hit by a truck Sunday, police said.

The driver, a 72-year-old man, pulled into a parking lot and surveyed the damage to his truck before looking at the child and driving off, authorities said. He was arrested at a nearby home after witnesses followed his truck and called police.

In July, Jennifer's father, Rodrigo Cervantes Zavala, was arrested in Mexico after allegedly abducting Jennifer and her baby brother and killing her grandparents and uncle, officials said.

The children were reported missing a few hours after the bodies of their mother's parents and brother were found in a home southeast of Phoenix. The girl's mother, Oneida Isabel Acosta, had left the father a few months earlier and had been living with her parents.

The father and two children were found near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, about a week after the killings. The children, who are U.S. citizens, were returned to their mother shortly afterward.

Cervantes Zavala faces kidnapping and murder charges.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... _n16020918

Comments from an on-line blogger in 2005:

The fact that Rodrigo Cervantes Zavala, is an undocumented immigrant (yeah okay he is an illegal immigrant) matters in the case of his two children missing and three family members killed is an issue for one very important reason. It could have been prevented.

From the Azcentral article:

Rustenburg said Cervantes Zavala has a criminal record and Child Protective Services had been out to the home at least once in the past. She said Cervantes Zavala had made abuse charges against the grandparents, but CPS determined them unfounded.

Cervantes Zavala was scheduled for a visit with the children Saturday."He's made threats to the family in the past," Rustenburg said, adding that investigators were unsure at this point whether the threats were to Acosta, the grandparents or the children.

County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he was frustrated that Cervantes Zavala was still in the country illegally because he'd had several previous run-ins with law enforcement. Maricopa County Attorney's Office spokesman Bill FitzGerald said the courts have no authority to deport people.

Cervantes Zavala was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence assault in Glendale in 1995 and 1998 against an ex-wife, not Acosta. He and Acosta were never married, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Last year, Cervantes Zavala pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary, a class-four felony. He was sentenced to two years of supervised probation, along with 120 hours of community service, restitution payments and the forfeiture of his shotgun.

Employees at Mesa Insulation Specialists told police Cervantes Zavala stole $3,298 worth of materials from the company, according to court documents. Cervantes Zavala had been fired about 18 months before the burglary after he was suspected of stealing from the business, documents said. Cervantes Zavala told police he worked for Mesa Insulation Specialists for 10 years.

How can it be that County Sheriff's and the legal system have no ability to deport people? Could they not have notified immigration while he was under arrest before? Notified them when he was showing up to court? Do something? Couldn't CPS have reported this to immigration? Did anyone? Had something been done there is a chance that two small children, one aged 18 months and one 3 years old would not be missing and possibly already over the border into Mexico, and their grandparents and uncle could be alive today.

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:vEz ... d=32&gl=us