Yolo jury votes for death penalty for CHP officer's killer

In a hushed courtroom Tuesday afternoon, Yolo County jurors recommended the death penalty for Brendt Volarvich in the murder of California Highway Patrol Officer Andy Stevens on a rural road near Woodland more than two years ago.

The 22-year-old Volarvich, wearing a dark suit and sitting beside his lawyers, nodded his head as the clerk read the verdict.

There was little show of emotion among the spectators in the crowded courtroom.

Before the reading, Judge Stephen L. Mock warned the audience that there should be no audible comments. After his clerk read the verdict, Mock polled the jurors, then thanked them for their service and excused them. He asked Volarvich if he agreed to postpone his sentencing until June 12.

"I guess," Volarvich said. "Yes, Your Honor."

Mock has the power to set aside the jury's verdict – the first death penalty recommended by a Yolo County jury since the early 1990s – and to sentence Volarvich to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jurors deliberated about five hours before reaching their unanimous verdict.

After closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial Monday, they met for about an hour, then returned Tuesday morning to continue their deliberations.

Word came that they had reached a verdict about 2 p.m. It was read two hours later.

Last month, the same jurors found Volarvich guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances for shooting Stevens in the face during a traffic stop on County Road 96 on the clear autumn afternoon of Nov. 17, 2005.

Stevens, 37, died almost instantly. Photographs exhibited during the trial showed his crumpled body lying in a pool of blood along the roadway.

A single bullet from a .357 Magnum revolver had pierced his sunglasses and ripped through his brain.

Prosecutors had argued that Volarvich, a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, murdered Stevens because he did not want to return to jail.

A second defendant, Gregory Zielesch, 50, of Woodland, also was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy.

Jurors found he had given Volarvich the gun used to kill Stevens as part of a murder plot against another man, Doug Shamberger, who was involved with Zielesch's estranged wife.

Zielesch faces the possibility of life in prison when he is sentenced May 21.

After Tuesday's verdict, jurors were escorted from the courtroom by Yolo County sheriff's deputies and left the building without comment.

Lawyers in the case – District Attorney Jeff Reisig, former District Attorney David Henderson, and defense lawyers Clyde Blackmon and Fred Dawson – remain bound by a judge's gag order.

Volarvich's mother and other family members, who attended much of the trial, were not in the courtroom for the verdict.

Outside the courthouse, Volarvich's younger brother sat weeping on the steps of the nearby county administration building. When approached by reporters, he walked away.

Shortly after the verdict, law enforcement officers and members of Stevens' family gathered in the county building's atrium for a news conference.

Michelle Stevens, the officer's widow, thanked her family and friends for their support, and the prosecutors, judge and jurors for their work on the case. With tears in her eyes, she thanked God "for strength."

Andy Stevens' mother, Pat Stevens, also thanked prosecutors Reisig and Henderson. "They've shown us courage and dedication and hard work and patience," she said.

She said God had supported her family during the ordeal. "His hands have held us and secured us through this long and devastating time," she said.

Stevens' fellow CHP officers had shown the family "nothing but courage and love," she said.

She said citizens should show their gratitude to law enforcement officers. "If you see one, go up to them and tell them you appreciate their hard work," she said. "I wish I told my son that more."

CHP Officer Robert Lagomarsino was a friend of Andy Stevens. He was with Stevens when he met his wife, had lunch with him the day of his death, and was among the first officers at the murder scene. Stevens, he said, was "just a caring, nice person. He didn't have a mean bone in his body."

But, Lagomarsino said, he believed Stevens would have been satisfied with Tuesday's verdict. "Justice was something he knew had to be served," he said.

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