Press-Telegram staff reports Article Launched: 04/05/2007

NORWALK - A jury found Jose Luis Orozco guilty on all counts in the murder of Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy Jerry Ortiz (Lakewood Station).

Jurors recommended the death penalty Tuesday in the penalty phase of the trial for a gang member convicted of killing a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy in June 2005 in Hawaiian Gardens.

Jose Luis Orozco was convicted March 20 of murdering Deputy Luis Gerardo "Jerry" Ortiz. Jurors were asked to recommend whether Orozco, 29, should be executed or serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 3.

Ortiz, a member of the anti-gang detail at the sheriff's Lakewood station, was checking identifications of people inside units at an apartment building in the 12200 block of East 223rd Street when he was shot in the face from behind an apartment door on June 24, 2005.

The 35-year-old newly married father of two boys had been investigating an earlier attack in which a man was shot in the back while doing yard work at a Hawaiian Gardens home.

Along with the murder conviction, jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, murder while lying in wait and murder to avoid arrest.

Jurors also convicted Orozco of one count of attempted murder involving the earlier Hawaiian Gardens shooting and two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, and found true allegations that Orozco personally discharged a handgun and that he committed the crimes for the benefit of a criminal street gang.

Orozco was arrested hours after the shooting after being found hiding a few doors away, and a .38-caliber revolver was recovered. He has remained jailed without bail since then.