Another San Diego Brutal Murder Case: Death Penalty?
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Man raped, murdered and dismembered roommate
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 13, 2002
Calvin Parker should be put to death for the gruesome rape, murder and
dismemberment of his roommate, a jury has decided after deliberating
for more than a week.
Parker, 33, showed little emotion yesterday in San Diego Superior
Court as he heard the jury's recommendation.
He was convicted July 17 of killing Patricia Gallego, a 29-year-old
Brazilian immigrant, in August 2000. They had shared a small apartment
near the University of San Diego for four months.
The jury found Parker guilty of first-degree murder committed during a
rape and for financial gain. They also agreed with the prosecution's
contention that Parker had lain in wait for his victim.
The same jury then had to decide yesterday whether Parker should be
executed for his crimes or spend the rest of his life in prison
without a chance of parole.
Parker's attorneys sought mercy, saying Parker was shaped by a rough
childhood. The prosecution said that nothing could excuse the
brutality of the crime.
Most jurors left the courthouse without commenting publicly yesterday.
Juror Dave Mason, however, said that the decision was difficult and
that all the jurors took the decision very seriously. At first the
jury was split 8 to 4 for death, Mason said, then 10-2 and 11 to 1.
The final juror, he said, did not side with the rest until yesterday
morning.
Gallego's mother and father, who attended almost every day of the
trial since its start in mid-June, were not in the courtroom
yesterday. Prosecutor Blaine Bowman said Terezinha Ramos Da Silva and
Rubens Gallego returned to São Paulo, Brazil on Friday.
Parker was found guilty of killing Gallego on her bed by cutting her
throat and hitting her on the head. She was gagged, her hands were
cuffed behind her back and she was raped, jurors found.
After she had been killed, prosecutors said, Parker then tried
desperately to cover up his crime.
He first tried to burn off her fingerprints. When that didn't work, he
bought bolt cutters and cut her fingers off. He put her fingers and
other evidence in a Dumpster behind a store in the Midway area, and
then left her bloodless body – sealed with duct tape in a trash
can – in a field in Carlsbad. He disposed of the bloody mattress
off a road in Bonita.
The prosecution showed the jury that Parker carefully planned the
killing – even going so far as to create a "to-do" list
detailing how he planned to sexually assault Gallego and how he would
steal her money.
Defense attorneys Richard Gates and Dawnella Gilzean argued that
Parker killed Gallego during a fit of passion. They said he was in
love with Gallego and couldn't handle her rejection. As such, they had
argued, the killing was not murder, but manslaughter.
After Parker was found guilty, his attorneys presented witnesses and
documentation detailing Parker's terrible childhood. He was beaten by
his schizophrenic mother and often went hungry. He almost died when he
was 2 after overdosing on his mother's iron pills. When he was 6, he
was molested by a female neighbor and contracted gonorrhea.
Prosecutors Bowman and Brenda Daly conceded that Parker had a
difficult life until the age of 8, when he was placed with a foster
family in El Cajon. Nevertheless, they told the jury, many people have
difficult childhoods. Most of them don't grow up to kill and rape
decades later, they said.
"I think the jury did the right thing," Daly said yesterday outside of
court. "They stuck to their task. It was a horrendous, brutal crime.
Patricia Gallego probably suffered the worst death that anyone could
suffer. The jury held him accountable."
Parker's attorneys expressed disappointment. "We felt we had presented
compelling evidence about his life that would have warranted mercy
from the jury," Gates said.
Parker sent a letter to Judge Michael Wellington before the verdicts
were read stating he felt his lawyers had not represented him well.
Several times, both before and during the trial, Parker had made
several similar allegations. The judge said he would appoint an
investigator to look into Parker's claim.
"Miss Gilzean and I worked as hard as we could for Mr. Parker," Gates
said outside of court.
Wellington scheduled formal sentencing for Oct. 7.
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