Warning: This story contains content that some may find disturbing.
As the trial of Luis Gutierrez, charged in the 2014 stabbing death of Ronnie Goodman, Jr., came to a close today, the prosecutor and defense attorney, in their respective closing arguments, each tried to portray Gutierrez in a starkly different way.
Prosecutor Sean Connolly went through a timeline of the events that took place that night, to highlight Gutierrez’s purposeful and conscious actions as he tracked down and ultimately brutally stabbed Goodman to death at 24th and Capp streets.
Today, defense attorney Alex Lilien portrayed Gutierrez as a “vulnerable,” misunderstood young man who was showing early symptoms of psychosis and believed he was defending himself.
Gutierrez is charged with murder and torture for stabbing then-20-year-old Goodman 39 times on Sept. 9, 2014. Now 29, he has been in jail awaiting trial for seven and a half years, since he was 21.
Both attorneys went through the minutiae of legal pathways that could lead to their preferred outcomes, explaining the different degrees of murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, felony and premeditated murder, and the legal definition of torture.
Connolly encouraged the jury to find Gutierrez guilty of first-degree murder and to disregard the self-defense argument, which he said was based on a “fantastical version of facts.” On Tuesday, he showed photos in court of a deceased and bloodied Goodman, and pointed to the stab wounds in his back, which sent Goodman’s mother running out of the courtroom, sobbing loudly.
“No matter which way you slice the self-defense instruction,” Connolly said, there was “no universe of interpretation” that could justify stabbing someone in the back. That action alone, Connolly said, was enough to convict Gutierrez of first-degree murder.
One eyewitness’s testimony, Connolly noted, said Gutierrez left the scene before returning to stab a lifeless Goodman while he was splayed out on the sidewalk.
And, while Gutierrez may have been experiencing early symptoms of mental illness that ultimately developed into true psychosis, Connolly said Gutierrez’s actions at the time of the incident showed “goal-oriented” behavior and organized, strategic thinking: He was threatened, then went home for backup and sought out Goodman and his friend.
After the stabbing, Connolly noted that Gutierrez ran home, then showed up for his next shift at work.
Defense attorney Lilien argued that Gutierrez was scared and confused in the face of Goodman and his friend trying to fight him as he got back to the Mission after work. Gutierrez had been experiencing delusions, talking to himself, and had visited a behavioral health clinic, Lilien said. The events of the evening had him on “high alert.”
That day, Gutierrez had been working as a dishwasher at the Twitter headquarters, where his colleagues were allegedly discussing ISIS threats toward Twitter and the possible presence of “lone wolves.” Later that evening, Gutierrez ran into Goodman and his friend, who tried to punch him and followed him; Gutierrez didn’t know if Goodman and his friend were gang-affiliated, Lilien said.
Lilien said Gutierrez and his brother — armed with a knife and a Taser, respectively — went to search for Goodman and his friend to resolve a possible “misunderstanding.” When the two brothers found the pair of friends outside a liquor store at 24th and Capp streets, Goodman and his friend started “attacking,” Lilien said, although no witness presented by either side had seen the start of the altercation.
“You can’t walk up to someone, even if you think they’re an ISIS lone wolf, and start stabbing them”
Sean Connolly, Assistant district attorney
“In that moment, he’s terrified,” Lilien said. Regardless of whether it was reasonable, Lilien added, Gutierrez’s belief that he was in danger from the unarmed Goodman was sufficient for him to act in self-defense. He attributed Gutierrez’s lack of remorse in 2014 to machismo and having been picked on, and characterized Goodman and his friend as intoxicated, with violent natures.
Goodman’s mother, Sherry Baltodano, who has been present in court throughout the trial, was notably absent during the defense’s closing arguments, which she later referred to as “bullshit.”
“If we don’t get justice over something like this, I have no words for the justice system … it was my son, but whose child is next?” Baltodano said.
After the 12 jurors went into the deliberation room, she and her partner stood outside of the court house, waiting on a verdict that Baltodano said was coming years too late. She said she had received “too many excuses” from the District Attorney’s office about why it took so long to get to trial.
“They pick and choose who they want to highlight,” Baltodano said.
Gutierrez’s brother, Javier, who is in the process of settling his own six charges with the DA’s office, will appear in court for sentencing tomorrow, April 14. Baltodano said her daughter will give an impact statement in her stead.
After I read this article I was very happy that They showed both sides of the story. I do feel that Luis should not have been locked up as Long as he was sentenced. As you might have seen from my Name, My dad is Alex Lilien, The Public defender for Luis. I read another Article that only showed one side of the story and even thanked the DA for locking up Luis and his brother.