S an Antonio β - A former Border Patrol agent who confessed to killing four sex workers in was convicted Wednesday of capital murder, after jurors heard recordings of him telling investigators he was trying to "clean up the streets" of his South Texas hometown.
Juan David Ortiz, 39, receives an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole because prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty. Their bodies were found along roads on the outskirts of Laredo in September During the trial that began last week, jurors heard Ortiz's confession during a lengthy taped interview with investigators.
Ortiz told investigators he had been a customer of most of the women, but he also expressed disdain for sex workers, referring to them as "trash" and "so dirty" and insisting he wanted to "clean up the streets.
He said "the monster would come out" as he drove along a stretch of street in Laredo frequented by the women. Following the verdict, family members of the victims faced Ortiz to give their statements. Ramirez's sister-in-law, Gracie Perez, said she was "a loving, kind and funny person. Ortiz was a serial killer then and a serial killer now. We knew that we had a job to do and that was to bring justice to those victims. Defense attorneys said Ortiz was improperly induced to make the confession and that it shouldn't be considered.
Defense attorney Joel Perez argued that Ortiz, a Navy veteran who had'd been deployed to Iraq, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had been suffering from insomnia, nightmares and headaches and was medicated and had been drinking that night. Prosecutors told jurors it was a legal confession provided by an educated senior law enforcement official who wasn't having a mental breakdown.
