A judge has denied a request for re-sentencing made by one of the two men convicted of the murder of an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in Long Beach over 17 years ago.
In the presence of Sheriff Robert Luna, Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Lowenthal stated that he believed Justin Flint, now 36 years old, was aware that Maria Cecilia Rosa was a peace officer acting within the course of her duties when she was fatally shot during an attempted robbery on March 28, 2006.
Sheriff Luna, who was the deputy chief of the Long Beach Police Department’s investigations bureau at the time of the incident, expressed his support for the judge’s decision.
Luna praised the bravery of the slain deputy, stating that she acted as she had been taught and tried to prevent the robbery outside her home in the early hours of the morning. He added, “She made a choice to try to take some kind of action, and that cost her her life.”
Justin Flint, along with his co-defendant Frank Christopher Gonzalez, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted robbery in relation to the 30-year-old victim. Gonzalez, who admitted to shooting the off-duty deputy, received a death sentence in May 2008. Meanwhile, Flint, who did not have the special-circumstance allegation of murder during an attempted robbery found true by the jury, was sentenced to 29 years to life in state prison in 2008.
Last year, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned a previous decision by Judge Gary J. Ferrari and permitted Flint’s petition for re-sentencing. Nevertheless, the panel also stated that the prosecution should be given the opportunity to demonstrate that Flint was ineligible for re-sentencing under a new state law. This law stipulated that Flint should have known that Rosa was a peace officer acting within the course of her duties.
Judge Lowenthal pointed out that the strongest evidence indicating Flint and Gonzalez’s awareness of Rosa’s identity came from their own statements made after the murder. Flint had informed his best friend that he saw a badge, confirming that he knew she was a law enforcement officer, while Gonzalez acknowledged his knowledge of her identity as a peace officer during an undercover jailhouse operation.
During the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray emphasized that Flint had witnessed the attack on Rosa up close and personal, stating, “He saw and heard everything.” She argued that it was unreasonable to believe that Rosa identified herself as a law enforcement officer after being shot, highlighting that Gonzalez had mentioned to undercover agents that she was flashing her badge at him.
Flint’s attorney, Edmont T. Barrett, countered the prosecution’s argument, asserting that their entire case was based on the assumption that Rosa displayed her sheriff’s badge and that Flint was close enough to notice it. Barrett contended that the badge was found inside a shopping bag in Rosa’s trunk and suggested that it had never been taken out, underscoring that there was no other evidence indicating her status as a law enforcement officer.
Judge Lowenthal, however, expressed his belief that the badge was on top of the bag rather than inside it, and he maintained that Rosa acted in conformity with her training by showing Gonzalez her badge early that morning.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge handed the badge to Rosa’s partner, who was visibly emotional. Flint had requested re-sentencing in light of a recent change in state law that has led to the release of certain defendants convicted of murder and other charges.
Earlier this year, Patrick Connolly, a current Los Angeles Superior Court judge and former prosecutor in the Flint and Gonzalez case, attempted unsuccessfully to disqualify Judge Lowenthal from presiding over the hearing. In a 2010 ruling that upheld Flint’s conviction, a state appeals court panel noted that Flint had sung the title line of Bob Marley’s song “I Shot the Sheriff” while in jail. According to the ruling, Flint claimed that the trial court had wrongfully prevented him from presenting testimony explaining his fear of a beating by sheriff’s deputies and his singing of the song as an expression of self-defense against such a beating.
Last year, the California Supreme Court upheld Gonzalez’s conviction and death sentence. The court’s ruling highlighted that Gonzalez had disclosed various details about the crime during an undercover operation following his arrest on unrelated charges, including leaving a bicycle at the crime scene, disposing of the murder weapon in water, and not leaving any footprints due to the pavement. The ruling also mentioned that Gonzalez and Flint had been overheard discussing killing any witnesses to the murder and that Flint had stated that Rosa would not have been killed if she had surrendered her wallet.
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