Leads about an on-duty killing dismissed as rumor at scandal-plagued Sheriff s Station in Thermal
At scandal-plagued Thermal Station, leads that a love triangle might have motivated Oscar Rodriguez s fatal shooting of Luis Morin Jr. were kept from homicide investigators.
Christopher Damien, Palm Springs Desert Sun
Published
8:12 pm UTC Apr. 22, 2021
Riverside County Sheriff s Deputy Oscar Rodriguez fatally shot Luis Morin Jr. in a Coachella driveway on a January night in 2014 as Morin s mother looked on in disbelief.
In the weeks after the shooting, speculative whispers that Morin s death might have been the result of a romantic rivalry spread quickly through the tight-knit east valley community.
Mental competency hearing delayed for man accused of attacking 7-year-old
A hearing to set a date for the mental competency trial of a man accused of severely injuring a 7-year-old Desert Hot Springs boy in a random attack was rescheduled today to March 24 at the request of the defense.
Daniel Birch Poulsen, 33, was arrested last July after allegedly attacking Gavin Ludwick in the middle of the street in the 9600 block of Vista Del Valle, fracturing the boy s skull and rendering him unconscious.
At the request of the prosecution, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Harold Hopp previously ordered a jury trial to determine whether Poulsen is mentally fit to be prosecuted on one count each of attempted murder and willful child cruelty, along with two sentence-enhancing allegations of inflicting great bodily injury.
Former Riverside County deputy charged with murder seeks case dismissal
Oscar Rodriguez
Update 01/04/21
The court date was pushed back today to March 4. The woman charged as an accessory to the murder is also set to return to the Larson Justice Center in Indio on March 4 for a trial-readiness conference.
Original Article 01/01/21
An attorney for a former Riverside County sheriff s deputy accused of killing a man he viewed as a romantic rival in Coachella is expected to argue Monday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio that the murder charge filed against his client should be dismissed.
Oscar Rodriguez, 39, is accused in the Jan. 27, 2014, shooting death of Luis Carlos Morin outside the victim s family s home. Morin s ex-girlfriend, Diana Perez, 42, is charged with being an accessory.