Jury begins deciding destiny of man accused of murdering Cathedral Catholic instructor

On Friday, a San Diego jury heard closing arguments within the trial of Jesse Milton Alvarez, 33, who’s charged with homicide for the Feb. 1, 2021, dying of Mario Fierro, a Cathedral Catholic Excessive Faculty instructor who was shot a number of instances exterior his residence as he was making ready to go to work.

Prosecutors allege it was a killing spurred by jealousy and obsession.

Alvarez faces life in jail with out the potential of parole if convicted of first-degree homicide and a special-circumstance allegation of mendacity in wait.

Alvarez additionally testified.

When requested why he let his shopper take the stand, protection legal professional Kerry Armstrong mentioned it was as a result of he’d seen the proof.

“He is seen the searches they had been going to indicate towards him in courtroom, which he did over the previous week,” Armstrong mentioned. “So, I feel that he thought, ‘Hey, I must stand up there and inform the jury why I did these explicit searches.’”

Of the greater than 100 prison trials Armstrong has been part of, he mentioned about half of his shoppers took the stand.

“Juries wish to hear what the defendant has to say,” Armstrong mentioned. “If they do not have a look at the shopper, they typically marvel what the man’s hiding or what the lady’s hiding. So I attempt to do it rather a lot.”

When deputy district legal professional Ramona McCarthy discovered Alvarez would testify, she mentioned she wasn’t shocked.

“We do see at instances once they determine to take the stand as a result of they need the jury to listen to their facet of the story,” she mentioned. “In a case like this, there’s lots of overwhelming proof in proving that the defendant did have a plan to homicide Mr. Fierro.”

Prosecutors allege Alvarez killed Fierro, 37, after discovering Fierro obtained engaged to Amy Gembara, one other CCHS instructor who Alvarez had dated for a number of years. Protection attorneys allege the capturing was dedicated in self-defense after Fierro attacked Alvarez.

“Frankly it’s insulting that protection goes to return up right here as a result of the defendant was claiming that this was self protection,” mentioned Deputy District Lawyer Ramona McCarthy.

The prosecution’s case centered on Alvarez’s fixation with Gembara that lasted effectively after their 2019 break-up, in addition to a digital path of proof that instructed Alvarez spent weeks researching kill Fierro.

McCarthy advised jurors that after seeing a social media publish saying Fierro and Gembara’s engagement, Alvarez started methodically plotting Fierro’s dying.

Inside a day of viewing the engagement publish, Alvarez tracked down Fierro’s residence deal with, searched whether or not he may rent a hitman, in addition to ” shoot somebody at their residence deal with,” based on his web search historical past.

After their break-up, McCarthy mentioned Alvarez’s fixation on his ex- girlfriend led him to start stalking her. She sought a restraining order towards Alvarez, however a decide denied her request.

Gembara testified final week that Alvarez’s persistence led her to vary the locks at her residence, set up safety cameras exterior her residence and finally transfer completely. She testified Alvarez was capable of finding her new addresses and mail her letters, tried to interrupt into her condominium and confirmed up unexpectedly on one event whereas she was at Disneyland with a relative.

He additionally tried a number of instances to use for jobs at Cathedral Catholic Excessive Faculty. He was capable of safe a meals service job on a kind of makes an attempt, however was fired on his first day after somebody acknowledged him from a safety flyer posted on campus.

The prosecutor mentioned after Alvarez discovered concerning the engagement in December 2020, he started practising capturing weapons at native firing ranges, whereas conducting web searches about the place to shoot an individual on their physique to make sure they die. He additionally searched ” kill your ex’s fiance,” “what does girl do with engagement ring if man dies?”, and “The right way to delete Google search historical past?”

Alvarez testified earlier this week that these searches weren’t made with any critical intent of harming Fierro, however had been “therapeutic” and performed as a method to vent his feelings. He conceded, although, that he harbored “unhealthy fantasies of wishing that [Fierro] was gone or lifeless or not right here anymore.”

McCarthy advised jurors to reject any notion that the searches had been “fantasy…His intent is crystal clear.”

McCarthy argued Alvarez deliberate to kill Fierro on Feb. 1 as a result of he knew that was the primary day on-campus instruction was resuming at Cathedral Catholic Excessive Faculty amid the pandemic. She argued Alvarez anticipated Fierro would go away his residence that morning and waited for practically an hour till Fierro emerged, then shot him in shock vogue as Fierro was loading the trunk of his automobile, along with his again turned to his killer.

However Alvarez testified that he was impressed by a Bible verse and spontaneously determined that morning to talk to Fierro, one thing he believed would assist him transfer on from his fixation with Gembara.

When he arrived exterior Fierro’s residence, he testified that he approached Fierro and launched himself and Fierro “snapped” and attacked him.

After Fierro began punching him, Alvarez alleged he pulled out his gun and begged Fierro to cease, however Fierro tried to seize the pistol. The boys grappled over the gun and fearing for his security, Alvarez finally shot Fierro, he testified.

Alvarez shot Fierro six instances, together with two gunshots to the entrance of his head and two to the again of his head.

Protection legal professional Peter Blair didn’t dispute that Alvarez was obsessive about Gembara and conceded that his habits surrounding Gembara was troubling.

Blair advised jurors that Gembara absolutely shared her considerations with Fierro and argued these troubling incidents probably spurred Fierro to assault Alvarez on Feb. 1.

Whereas Blair argued that Alvarez’s habits leaned extra in the direction of “offensive, insulting, and immature,” than truly harmful, he mentioned what mattered was Gembara believed Alvarez was harmful and communicated that to Fierro.

“I am asking you to actually, actually assume critically about some fairly disturbing proof,” Blair advised jurors. “I am not asking you to ignore that proof …. Have a look at how a lot Jesse actually stalked and tormented Amy and what Mario thought of that on the time.”

Alvarez’s protection attorneys argued through the trial that Alvarez additionally wished to talk with Fierro on Feb. 1 due to an image posted on social media through which Fierro and Gembara had been seen having alcoholic drinks. Alvarez testified that Gembara had points with consuming up to now and mentioned the image had “a triggering impact” on him as a result of he believed Fierro was profiting from Gembara’s vulnerabilities.

McCarthy argued there was no fact to that assertion. She mentioned that through the time Alvarez was conducting on-line analysis into kill Fierro, he despatched Gembara a number of love letters, none of which detailed any considerations about consuming.

She additionally argued that his actions made it clear that he went to Fierro’s residence to hold out a homicide, citing the truth that he drove to Fierro’s residence in his brother’s automobile, whereas leaving his cellular phone at residence.

“Each little bit of proof proves the defendant went there to homicide him,” McCarthy mentioned.

Jurors started their deliberations Friday afternoon however didn’t attain a verdict by the top of the day. Deliberations will resume beginning Monday morning.