From Nicole Williams:
After three days of deliberation, a Yolo County jury has convicted a Sacramento man of first-degree murder in a 2007 stabbing of a mentally-ill woman, and could face life in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 28.
Luis A. Rodriguez, 25, was convicted Tuesday for his role in the stabbing death of 39-year-old Alexandra Cerda, a Yolo County District Attorney Office's press release states.
No official motive was ever established in the case, said prosecuting attorney Carolyn Palumbo.
"It could have been a number of things, but I really don't know," she said.
With a large network of friends and family in the area, the mentally ill Cerda often walked the streets of her south Sacramento neighborhood, according to earlier reports in The Bee. And on the night of July 8, 2007, Rodriguez and his friend Jose Madrigal offered her a ride home after a party they had all attended across from Max Baer Park near 34th Avenue.
After they picked her up, Madrigal stabbed Cerda more than 100 times with a knife as Rodriguez drove around Sacramento and then to Yolo County, where the two men dumped her body in some brush on the side of the River Road, the release states.
Cerda's body was discovered the July 9, 2007, by a probation officer who saw her body on the side of the road, the release stated.
"We have always maintained that Mr. Rodriguez's cold blooded decision to continue casually driving his van for over ten minutes, knowing that his accomplice was brutally stabbing the victim over 100 times just a few feet away from him, justified this most serious conviction under the law," said District Attorney Jeff Reisig said.
Due to her mental illness, Cerda lost custody of her seven children years ago. But her friends told The Bee in 2007 that she was never without support or a home to stay in.
Madrigal pleaded guilty to first-degree murder earlier and was sentenced to 25-years-to-life on Jan. 9.
Rodriguez is being held in jail, pending his sentencing in Yolo Superior Court.
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