A Lebanon County jury deliberated for about three and a half hours on Thursday before finding Juan Delgado guilty of premeditated first-degree murder for the March 9, 2023, shooting death of Jean Ortiz as he and his wife sat on their front porch on Lebanon’s north side.
Ortiz was shot twice in the neck, and died from a ruptured aorta “within seconds,” according to a pathologist testifying for the prosecution.
Throughout two days of trial, District Attorney Pier Hess Graf presented testimony and evidence portraying the shooting as the result of a feud between the defendant’s sister and the victim’s wife.
The deadly incident occurred about an hour after the two women, who both testified, had a physical altercation near the victim’s home.
Read More: Jury hears opening statements and testimony in trial for fatal shooting
Ortiz’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Michael Light, maintained that William Alex Ramos-Rivas, boyfriend of the defendant’s sister, was the shooter. The defense relied largely on the discovery of Ramos-Rivas’ DNA, but not the defendant’s, on the 9mm handgun identified as the murder weapon.
The gun was found in Ramos-Rivas’ possession 24 days after Ortiz was murdered, when police responded to a domestic argument between Ramos-Rivas and the defendant’s sister.
The prosecution countered by presenting a DNA expert who said the lack of defendant’s DNA on the murder weapon could have been due to a number of factors, including the passage of time and others handling the gun.
The victim’s wife, who was just feet from the killer, positively identified Delgado as the shooter, based on his appearance, voice, a photo lineup, and his distinctive leg tattoo. Ramos-Rivas has no such tattoo.
The shooting and the defendant’s approach and retreat from the scene were caught on surveillance video, which was shown to the jury.
The defendant did not testify in his own defense.
In her closing argument to the jury on Thursday morning, Hess Graf pushed hard for a verdict of premeditated first-degree murder, pointing to, among other evidence, the defendant’s hour-long drive from his home in Tower City, Schuylkill County, the fact that he parked his truck two blocks from the scene in order to surprise the victim, and that he concealed his face with a surgical mask as he fired.
Referring to the lengthy drive followed by the two-block walk to the victim’s house, Hess Graf suggested that “every step, every second, was a chance for the defendant to turn back.”
“This killing was premeditated, intentional, and cold-blooded,” she said.
Light told the jury in his closing argument that Ramos-Rivas had a motive to harm the victim, and that his DNA on the murder weapon pointed to him, not the defendant.
Judge Tylwalk instructed jurors before they started deliberating that they could return a verdict of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, or not guilty.
In Pennsylvania, third-degree murder is a killing committed with “malice aforethought,” but without the specific intent to kill. Malice is a hardened indifference to the consequences of one’s actions which results in death.
Sentencing has been set for Dec. 18 before Tylwalk. Pennsylvania law requires a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole for a first-degree murder conviction.
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