Nearly four years ago, on Jan 27th, 2014, Oscar Rodriguez pinned Luis Morin – a 39-year-old father of four – to the ground and shot him at point-blank range in front of Morin’s mother and other relatives. Before that, he hid in the bushes outside the home, waiting to jump the family man.
In any other situation, this person would be immediately sentenced for homicide and jailed. Oscar Rodriguez, however, was a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy at the time of the incident, and by claiming he was “on-the-job,” Rodriguez initially got cleared of all wrongdoing.
The first investigation had the officer claiming he was at the house attempting to arrest Morin for two outstanding warrants. After Morin tried to take his gun during a struggle, he was forced to kill him in self-defense. The District Attorney’s Office believed him, deemed the shooting was justified and cleared the charges.
A year and a half after the incident, investigators presented a different case to a grand jury. Morin’s family filed a lawsuit exposing a supposed affair between the California deputy and the victim’s girlfriend, Diana Perez.
When questioned by a lawyer, Rodriguez repeatedly pled the fifth when asked if he wanted Luis Morin dead and out of the way to continue a relationship with Diana Perez. “And isn’t it true that it bothered you that they were going to have a future together that didn’t involve you,” Greenberg asked Rodriguez.
“I’m exercising my Fifth Amendment right not to testify,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez got arrested this Friday morning and is due in court by Friday afternoon. If convicted, Rodriguez could spend the rest of his life in prison, and Morin’s girlfriend, who got indicted as an accessory to murder, could face up to three years in jail.
At a press conference, District Attorney Mike Hestrin admitted investigators “didn’t have all the information” and “didn’t ask the right questions” during the initial investigation that ended in the officer’s acquittal. He claims, however, that the Riverside County law enforcement did not participate in a cover-up, further explaining that it was an “isolated case” by “a rogue deputy.”
“What we are seeing in recent times is there is more scrutiny by investigators, and prosecutors and judges – I’m not yet prepared to say juries – but by the courts as a whole,” Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor, stated. “They are willing to look for that second narrative, when in the past, they just assumed the police narrative is factually accurate and true in every way.”
Rodriguez is only the second Southern California police officer to be prosecuted for excessive use of force since 2004.
This article was inspired by CBS // Ex-Riverside Deputy Charged With Murder In Coachella Shooting