The San Diego Superior Court placed the death sentence on a man who was convicted last year of shooting two police officers, leading to the death of a 16 year veteran of the San Diego Police Department.
The death penalty was recommended for 57-year-old Jesse Micheal Gomez man convicted of first-degree murder for the July 28, 2016, fatal shooting of 43-year-old Jonathan "J.D." De Guzman.
This is the first death sentence handed down in a dozen years in San Diego County.
Additionally, Gomez was convicted of the attempted murder of Wade Irwin, De Guzman’s partner, and a count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
De Guzman died at a hospital. He was a 16 year veteran of the San Diego Police Department.
Irwin remained in the hospital for nearly a month after being shot in the throat.
Gomez’s defense attorneys presented a series of denied motions to Judge Fredrick Link. They argued that Gomez shouldn't receive the death penalty because of racial bias, and he was only stopped on the night of the shooting because he was walking down the street.
The defense equated it to “driving while Black”. They also cited the case of 2019 Poway Synagogue shooter John T. Ernist, arguing that racial bias had previously been shown in penalty cases in the past five years.
The prosecutors argued an increase in shootings involving police, and the death penalty was not pursued in other cases because some defendants were juveniles.
Gov. Gavin Newsom established a moratorium in 2019 on carrying out the death penalty during his time in office. With that, a judge is not barred from issuing a death sentence, and it does not preclude prosecutors from continuing to pursue capital punishment in current cases.
"What makes this fellow different and apart from others is that he executed a police officer," Link told the assembly. "Officer De Guzman was in his seat…. He was strapped in and couldn’t get out.”
