Teen convicted in beating death of USC student
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Alejandra Guerrero, left, appears in Los Angeles Superior Court with her attorney Errol Cook, right.
LOS ANGELES >> An 18-year-old woman was convicted today in the beating death of a Chinese graduate student at the University of Southern California as he walked home after a late-night study session.
Alejandra Guerrero was the first of four people to be tried in the slaying of 24-year-old Xinran Ji during a robbery attempt in 2014. Guerrero was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges.
Authorities said Ji was attacked with a baseball bat and wrench as he walked to his off-campus apartment after a late-night study group at USC. The electrical engineering student ran from his attackers, but they caught him a block away and continued the beating until he was on his knees.
Ji managed to stagger to his apartment where a roommate found him dead in bed in the morning.
The killing renewed concerns about the safety of Chinese students at USC, where two other Chinese graduate students were killed in 2012.
In closing arguments, prosecutor John McKinney told the seven-woman, five-man jury that Guerrero “minimizes her own involvement” by saying she hit Ji on the hand with a wrench and lied when interviewed by police.
Guerrero — who was 16 at the time of Ji’s death — was tried as an adult. She could face up to life in prison without parole when she is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 28, City News Service reported.
Jonathan Del Carmen, 21, Andrew Garcia, 20, and Alberto Ochoa, 19, are awaiting trial separately in connection with Ji’s death. Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty against Del Carmen and Garcia. Guerrero and Ochoa can’t face capital punishment because they were minors at the time of the crime.
Authorities have said the four were driving around looking for someone to rob when they saw Ji. Surveillance cameras showed Ji being surrounded by a group of people on a dark street and then, in a subsequent video, being chased.
10 responses to “Teen convicted in beating death of USC student”
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First degree murder – should be the death penalty but, since she was a minor at the time, give her life in prison without parole. Give the adults the death penalty.
Aw, pua ting. She going jail. 4 against 1. Real fair, eh? 1 down, 3 to go.
VILE ANIMALS. Show no mercy! These lowlifes deserve death. They cowardly picked on a weak target, outnumbering him 4 to 1. I’d love to watch them face off against a Chinese kung fu master with edged weapons and watch them get sliced to pieces.
California takes decades to process death penalty inmates. Best use of these worthless animals is to mandate mandatory organ donation for all violent criminals so there will be at least some partial restitution to society.
How’s that illegal immigrant anchor baby diversity working out for you California? Drugs, violent gangs, rapings of innocent bystanders are the norm there now. You gotta love the smirk of her face, she knows illegal immigrant loving Dems will let her out on good behavior in less than 12 months.
Death to the perps. I don’t care how old they are. They don’t even deserve life in prison. USC better get their acts together as well. In fact those families should sue the school.
DUMB S–T … don’t rob a college student … THEY’RE BROKE !!!!!
Generally yes, but most USC students have lots of spending cash from their affluent parents.
get those misfits locked up where they belong!!!!!
Interesting to read your comments. Anger is understandable. But then I think back to a horrible crime that happened in Seattle in 2012. Two women were brutally attacked, one was killed. Yet the families had compassion for the killer (who was caught and convicted). The dead woman’s brother said he hoped the killer found his way to God and hoped that he’d see him in heaven. Or the relatives of those killed by that man in Charleston, at church: “The relatives of people slain inside the historic African American church in Charleston, S.C., earlier this week were able to speak directly to the accused gunman Friday at his first court appearance. One by one, those who chose to speak at a bond hearing did not turn to anger. Instead, while he remained impassive, they offered him forgiveness and said they were praying for his soul, even as they described the pain of their losses. “I forgive you,” Nadine Collier, the daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said at the hearing, her voice breaking with emotion. “You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.'” That’s a special kind of grace.