A prosecutor announced in court Friday that the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office will not seek the death penalty against three defendants accused in a shooting in which Sean Paul Aquitania and his 7-month-old son were killed.
Deputy District Attorney Eric Kindall told Sacramento Superior Court Judge John P. Winn of the decision during a brief hearing for one of the defendants, Richard Noguera, 34.
Noguera is the accused gunman in the Sept. 14, 2007, south area shooting that killed Aquitania, 21, and his infant son, Sean Aquitania Jr.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Grippi declined to explain why prosecutors will not pursue capital punishment against Noguera and co-defendants David Ortez-Lucero, 27, and Christopher Nicholas Strong, 28.
"We are not going to discuss our decision whether or not to seek the death penalty in this particular case," Grippi said in an emailed statement.
Noguera, Ortez-Lucero and Strong have been charged with special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders, murder during the course of a robbery and murder during the course of a burglary.
The allegations could have subjected the three to the death penalty if a jury convicted them and found the allegations to be true.
The decision to not seek the penalty would mean sentences of life in prison with no chance of parole if they are convicted.
The three defendants are accused of trying to rob a house on Country Greens Court in unincorporated south Sacramento.
Investigators say Aquitania drove up to the residence while the suspects were there and that the baby was shot during a struggle next to his father's car.
Aquitania was killed inside the house. Strong, one of the three defendants, was shot in the leg, detectives said
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