HILLSBORO, Ore. -- The jury chose the death penalty in Ricardo Serrano's capital murder trial, the judge announced Thursday morning in court.
The Washington County man was convicted last month on 10 counts of aggravated murder for killing Melody Dang and her two teenage sons in 2006 as revenge against the woman's live-in boyfriend. The jury recommended the death penalty for each of the killings during the sentencing phase. Judge Steven Price said he will formally sentence Serrano to death next week.
Due to Oregon state laws regarding rights of death row inmates, Serrano's case will now go into automatic appeal.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented closing arguments Wednesday afternoon. The jury completed its work around 4 p.m. and left for the day.
In the conviction phase of the trial, jurors reached a guilty verdict less than 10 days after the capital murder case began.
The state portrayed Serrano as a vengeful husband who killed the family as retribution for his wife's infidelity with Dang's live-in boyfriend, Mike Nguyen.
Dang, 37, and her sons Steven, 15, and 12-year-old Jimmy were found dead in November 2006, months after Serrano's wife informed him that she was pregnant with Nguyen's child. Prosecutors said Serrano wanted to hurt Nguyen and believed that the worst way to inflict pain on him was through his wife and kids - the three most important people in his life.
The night of the murders, Nguyen was the one who found the three bullet-ridden bodies when he returned home from work. Dang had been shot in the heart, police reports said, and the two boys were shot in the chest. The three had been eating dinner and watching a movie. Jimmy tried to hide in a bathroom, but Serrano kicked open the door and shot him at close range, prosecutor Gina Skinner said in court, illustrating the derranged killer's strong intent to murder all of them.
Following Thursday's sentencing hearing, Serrano will be sent directly to the Oregon State Penitentiary where he will be segregated from the general population. Executions are conducted by lethal injection in Oregon.
Oregon reinstated capital punishment in 1984, but the state's first execution in 34 years did not occur until September 6, 1996, when Douglas Franklin Wright died by lethal injection in the execution room at Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
