*CRIMINAL CASE UPDATE*

JURY CONVICTS MAN OF MURDERING MOTHER

INDIO, CA - An Indio man was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday, July 31, 2009, in the killing of his mother during an attack as he tried to steal money from her home.

A Riverside County jury found Efrain Soltero Gutierrez, 43, guilty of murder after two days of deliberations. He was convicted of first-degree murder with special allegations for the use of three deadly weapons: a vase, a picture frame and a vacuum cleaner.

Gutierrez murdered his 75-year-old mother, Guadalupe Gutierrez, in May 2006 when he entered her Indio home and attempted to steal money. When Gutierrez's mother noticed her son in her living room attempting to steal her money, she confronted him. Gutierrez attacked his mother in the living room with all three deadly weapons. He used the items to beat her and he strangled her to death before dragging her lifeless body into the front yard.

When police received a call regarding the woman's body in the front yard they responded to the home. When they arrived, they found Gutierrez in the bathroom of his mother's home. He was naked and had physical injuries indicating he been involved in a struggle. He was arrested and later charged with the murder.

The case, INF054424, was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Victoria Weiss.

"I'm extremely happy that justice has been done on behalf of Guadalupe Gutierrez and her family," said Weiss.

The sanity phase of the trial is now scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Monday, August 3, 2009, in Department 1C of the Indio courthouse.

A jury will be asked to determine if Gutierrez committed the murder due to insanity. Upon a finding of sanity, Gutierrez is facing life in prison.