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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Tribal Member Gets Life Without Parole For Cabbie Slaying

Gabriel Gerard Resvaloso belongs to the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, which is situated in San Jacinto, Ca.

On the night of Dec. 4, 2005, Resvaloso, then about 30, called a Yellow Cab, driven by James Burrows, 42, who picked him up at a motel in San Jacinto and took him to the Reservation.

According to videos shown at trial, the yellow Scion that Burrows used as a cab traveled to and from the tribal casino to a desolate spot on the reservation but it was unclear whether Burrows was in the taxi every time.

What is clear is that at some point during the night and the subsequent morning, Dec. 5, 2005, Resvaloso shot Burrows and left him out on a dirt road on the Rez to die.

Burrows was found by a passerby during the day.

The Scion was found parked in a lot not from from the motel where Resvaloso was staying.

DNA evidence belonging to Resvaloso was found on some gloves left in the car.

And a gun was found hidden in Resvaloso's room.

Though a seven-woman, five-man jury found that Resvaloso committed murder on someone who was out performing his duties as a cab driver, which is a special circumstance that calls for death or life without parole, the panel divided on another special circ allegation.

The jury split 8-1-3 on an allegation that Resvaloso killed Burrows in order to carjack him.

Eight of the jurors believed the defendant did the killing for a carjacking, one juror did not believe that and three were undecided.

Outside the courtroom, jurors interviewed said they believed something happened out on the reservation that night but that it had nothing to do with the car,

"The man had died for something other than that damn car," said a juror from the city of Menifee.

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