(Houston) Illegal alien Quintero convicted of capital murder in death of HPD officer

Update: A Harris County jury has convicted Juan Leonardo Quintero of capital murder in the death of Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson. 

Jurors began deliberating in the capital murder trial of  Juan Leonardo Quintero today after hearing prosecutors argue that he killed a Houston police officer because he feared spending 10 years in federal prison for re-entering the United States after being deported in 1999.

"Fear turned to anger and he assassinated Rodney Johnson as (Johnson) was filling out paperwork," prosecutor John Jordan said in closing arguments in Quintero's capital murder trial.

But defense attorney Danalynn Recer, who maintains that Quintero is not guilty by reason of insanity [Yeah, right -- nice try!], told the jury that Jordan's scenario doesn't make sense.

Johnson pulled Quintero over for speeding on the afternoon of Sept. 21, 2006, and arrested him for not having a driver's license.

Investigators have said Johnson missed a gun tucked in the 34-year-old illegal immigrant's waistband during a pat-down search.

If convicted, Quintero, a Mexican citizen, will face life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. His trial is in its second week in state District Judge Joan Campbell's court.

While Johnson was outside the patrol car, Quintero pulled the slide back to load a round in the chamber of his 9mm semi-automatic pistol, Jordan said.

"He had time to chamber a round," Jordan said, pointing to Quintero with one hand and holding an unloaded gun in the other.

Jordan pulled the slide back and released it three times, letting the sound echo through the courtroom

"A police officer knows that sound."

He said Quintero thought about his options and lay in wait for Johnson to return.

Quintero's attorneys have conceded throughout the trial that he shot Johnson seven times as the officer filled out a booking sheet in the front seat.

Jordan went on to say Quintero shouted racial epithets at Johnson, who was black, as he died.

"How dare you?" Jordan said. "How dare you make it racial, as you take his life."

Defense attorney Recer said the prosecution's explanation for what happened didn't make sense.

"There's no way Mr. Quintero-Perez logically, rationally decided to shoot Officer Johnson," Recer said.

"It's a puzzle that we have to put together."

Quintero's defense team has worked to show he is not guilty of capital murder by reason of insanity.

Two psychologists and a neuropsychologist said a childhood fall caused brain damage that caused Quintero to perceive Johnson as a threat and take unreasonable action. [Horse hockey ........ ]

"Officer Johnson was a hero. He was a family man," [Yes he was -- a big loss -- and his wife is also an HPD officer] Recer said. "We have an explanation. It's just not the quick, easy, bumper-sticker explanation the prosecution wants you to believe."

Recer said she worked to figure out what was wrong with Quintero and what he was thinking.

"Because he sure wasn't thinking like any of us," she said.

She said Quintero's "bad brain" has an overactive threat-detection system, usually assuaged by drinking about 24 beers a day. But on that day, Quintero had about six beers. [This was a waste of taxpayer money -- there is only ONE acceptable punishment!]

Quintero acknowledged in a videotaped statement that, although his hands were cuffed behind his back, he shot Johnson while locked in the backseat of the patrol car.

In a decision that shocked the family of Houston police Officer Rodney Johnson, jurors decided today that Juan Leonardo Quintero should spend the rest of his life in prison, rather than go to death row, for Johnson's 2006 murder.

The decision came in the second day of deliberations for the jury, which convicted Quintero of capital murder on May 8 in the court of state District Judge Joan Campbell.

Quintero, 34, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

In a news conference at the Houston Police Officers' Union, Johnson's widow, Joslyn Johnson, and other relatives shed tears as they expressed their disappointment and astonishment that Quintero didn't receive the death penalty.

When the sentence was announced, "I was in awe. I was dumbfounded," the widow said. "My husband's life meant nothing - that's what I felt.''

The widow, also an HPD officer, said, "We are very disappointed in the decision that the jury made. If any case ever warranted the death penalty, this certainly did.'' [YES it did!]

Breaking down into tears, she said, "The city lost a hero. I lost my husband.''

She said she didn't agree with the jury's decision, but wouldn't criticize the jurors. "They showed mercy on him. He didn't show mercy on my husband,'' she said. "God is the ultimate judge, and if he didn't want this decision to be made, it wasn't going to be made.''

"We're just very upset," Lorraine Crawford, mother of  Joslyn Johnson, said earlier.

"We wanted the death penalty," Crawford said. "He had nothing but malice in his heart."

She added that the jury did not seem to understand the difficulty of a police officer's job.

The officer's brother, David Johnson, was in the courtroom with his wife, Donna Mack, when the sentence was announced. He said he and his wife also had wanted to see Quintero sentenced to death.

``He shot him four times in the back, three times in the head,'' Johnson said. ``I can't believe that. What's mitigation?''

Quintero's relatives left the courtroom without commenting. His wife appeared to be weeping as family members shielded her with their arms as she left the room.

After reading the sentence, Judge Campbell asked Quintero if he had anything to say.

He responded only, ``I'm sorry.''

The slain officer's sister, Susan Johnson, cried as she gave the only victim impact statement. She read, many times in an angry tone, from a piece of paper.

``You are a murderer, plain and simple,'' she told Quintero while staring at him.

Johnson was on the stand for about five minutes. Quintero showed no emotion, and for a moment looked down. The judge then admonished him and told him to look at Johnson while she spoke.

Johnson belittled the defense team, looking at them and saying they had manipulated the system, especially with the insanity defense.

She thanked the jurors, some of whom wept while she was reading her statement.

Most of the jurors chose not to comment after the trial ended. One, however, acknowledged that she wept during Susan Johnson's statement.

"I was torn up. I was crying," said Tiffany Moore, a 38-year-old marketing director from Houston.

"I still feel we came to the right decision," she said. "We could never bring Rodney back. I feel very sad for the family, losing a loved one."

Moore said the entire trial was "a very difficult process."

"I had no idea what I was going into," she said. "I'm happy with the decision. It was very tense. There was a lot of discussion."

Moore added that the guilt-innocence phase of the trial had been less difficult for the panel. Even so, she said, she went home and slept for almost a full day after the jury found Quintero guilty on May 8.

Now that the trial is over, she said, she was considering going to work rather than home, because she had fallen so far behind.

"I might go home and take a nap this afternoon and try to put it behind me," Moore said.

Testimony showed Quintero shot Johnson seven times from the backseat of the officer's patrol car on Sept. 21, 2006, while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

Johnson had arrested the illegal immigrant from Mexico during a traffic stop for not having a driver's license.

The officer searched Quintero before placing him in the car, but missed a 9mm pistol tucked in his waistband.

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Denise Bradley said it was a sad day for police officers.

Speaking outside the courthouse after the verdict, Bradley said she was disappointed with the verdict, but respected it.

``We take solace in the fact that Mr. Quintero will spend the rest of his life behind bars,'' fellow prosecutor John Jordan said.

Quintero was stopped while driving home after work with his two stepdaughters and a co-worker. He was drinking beer while driving a truck that belonged to his employer, landscaper Robert Lane Camp, testimony showed.

Camp has been indicted on federal charges of harboring an illegal immigrant. Johnson's family also has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Camp and his company. [YEP -- wouldn't want to be this employer]

Jurors began deliberating at noon Monday and were sequestered overnight.

In closing arguments, prosecutors said Quintero should pay for his crime with his life, while a defense lawyer asked jurors to use their own moral compass to find mercy for Quintero.

To show a past criminal history, prosecutors pointed out that Quintero had several DWI convictions and was deported after pleading guilty to indecency with a 12-year-old girl in 1999.  [It wasn't his first offense for sure -- what would it take to award the death penalty?]

The jury did not hear any details of that crime.

Quintero's first stop will be Hunstville's Byrd Unit, where his criminal history, psychological makeup and work skills will be evaluated before he's shipped to his permanent maximum security home.

On the prison system's six-point classification scale - ranging from G1 trusties to administrative segregation, the worst of the worst - the killer will be classified as a G3. As such, he will be required to work, but will be strictly limited in where he can work.

Never will he be allowed to work off-prison - in a prison farm field, for instance - except under armed guard. While his work assignment is contingent on Byrd Unit findings, such inmates typically begin their prison careers as field workers. They are required to rise at 4 a.m. and work through mid-afternoon.

Quintero will be housed with other G3 offenders in a cellblock or prison dormitory within the main building.

He will be allowed four hours of group recreation Mondays through Fridays and seven hours on Saturday and Sunday.

He will be allowed weekend visits from his family and others on a 10-person visitation list, said prisons spokesman Jason Clark. Quintero will be eligible to participate in prison education programs. Recreation and other privileges can be reduced if the inmate violates prison rules.

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Almost two years ago, Juan Leonardo Quintero predicted in a jail house interview that he would be sent to the death chamber for shooting Houston police officer Rodney Johnson.

"I was wrong," he said Wednesday from a Harris County jail a day after he was sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.

It was a verdict that outraged Johnson's family and local law enforcement but served as a victory for death penalty opponents in a county that has sent more people to Texas' death row than any other.

The verdict also reignited debate about illegal immigration, as Quintero had been deported before he sneaked back into the United States.

Quintero, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit Wednesday, smiled as he responded to questions about the verdict. But his demeanor changed when asked whether he was happy about the jury's decision to spare his life.

"It's not anything to be happy about," he said somberly.

The 34-year-old former landscaper said he knew the sentence came as a surprise to many people, including Johnson's family. Quintero said he wanted to share his thoughts with Johnson's wife, Joslyn, but in a private manner.

Joslyn Johnson could not be reached for comment.

Quintero expressed regret, as he did at the end of his trial, although he said he was sure many doubt his sincerity.

"No matter what I say, people are going to think what they want," he said. "Nothing I can say, nothing I can do, will fix what I've done. I'm sorry for everything, though."

Quintero also expressed concern for his own safety and whether he would even make it to a state prison.

"How am I going to be OK with a lot of cops around?" he asked.

During the trial, prosecutors pointed to the stoic confession he gave to a Houston investigator after the shooting as evidence that he was a remorseless killer. Quintero said the interview occurred a couple hours after the shooting, and that he was afraid.

"I thought I was going to get executed right there," he said.

He still could not explain the shooting, other than to say that fear led him to kill Johnson. He paused several moments before answering a question about how he would live with Johnson's murder.

"I feel bad about it," Quintero said. "It's going to keep going on the rest of my life."

Defense team praised

"The defense attorneys did a great job," said legendary defense lawyer Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, who has practiced in Houston for 52 years.

Haynes, a death penalty opponent, said his sympathies went out to Johnson's family, but that the verdict was justice. He credited Quintero's attorney, Danalynn Recer.

"I'm going to write her a little note of congratulations," Haynes said.

Recer was not available for comment Wednesday.

John Jordan, one of the prosecutors in the case, said he respected the jury's verdict, but said it doesn't represent the will of the people.

"I hope the fact that the community seems to disagree with the decision gives some comfort to the police officers who put their lives on the line for us every day."

Speaking about Johnson's family and fellow officers, Jordan said he was disappointed.

"I wish we could have brought them justice."

Not unprecedented

While the verdict may have been shocking to some, it was not the first time a person was convicted of capital murder of a peace officer has avoided the death penalty in Harris County.

Since 1990, at least nine men have been sentenced to death in police officer slayings. At least four others have been sentenced to life in prison, although the law has continued to change regarding the minimum amount of time they have to spend behind bars.

•In 1992, Keith Burl Turner was sentenced to life in prison — at least 35 years — for shooting off-duty Harris County sheriff's deputy Jeffrey Scott Sanford as he tried to stop a convenience store robbery.
•Jurors in 1994 spared the life of Edward John Benavides, who was convicted in the shooting death of Pasadena police officer Les Early during a November 1993 drug raid. He will be eligible for parole in 2024.
•Man Nhu Truong got life in prison instead of the death penalty for shooting Randy Eng, an off-duty sheriff's deputy working an extra job at a wedding reception in 1998.
•In 2002, Alex Adams escaped the death chamber for the murder of HPD officer Albert Vasquez when a mistrial was declared, resulting in an automatic life sentence.
Truong and Adams must serve a minimum of 40 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Until 2005, punishment for a capital murder charge was death by lethal injection or life with a possibility of parole. The Texas Legislature voted in 2005 to take away the possibility of parole for convicted capital murderers.

DA hopefuls' views

Quintero's verdict brought mixed reactions from Harris County district attorney candidates.

C.O. Bradford, a Democrat, disagreed with the jury's decision against putting Quintero to death. His opponent, Republican Pat Lykos, said it was improper for her to go that far, but said she understood the Johnson family's disappointment with the life-without-parole sentence.

Bradford, the former Houston police chief, said the case was tailor-made for the Texas death penalty law because of Quintero's criminal record and the way he killed Johnson.

"If (the death penalty) is going to be utilized in Texas, I can't think of a more appropriate case," Bradford said.

Lykos, a former judge and former police officer, said she could not comment directly on the verdict because she remains eligible to serve as a substitute judge in other cases.

But, she added, "I certainly sympathize with the police officer's family and fully understand their reaction."

Chronicle reporter Alan Bernstein contributed to this report.

rosanna.ruiz@chron.com brian.rogers@chron.com