Man Sentenced to Death in Fatal Crime Spree

By City News Service, image via Shutterstock

An Indio judge handed down a death sentence for a 34- year-old man convicted of murder and other crimes in a months-long spree of home invasion robberies a decade ago.

The jury that convicted Miguel Enrique Felix in March of two dozen felonies recommended capital punishment over life imprisonment for the defendant, whose crime spree occurred from the summer of 2004 until the spring of 2005 in Desert Hot Springs, Thousand Palms, North Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Beaumont and unincorporated county areas.

During a brief hearing this morning at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, Superior Court Judge Richard A. Erwood read a lengthy narrative describing each of the crimes for which Felix was convicted, then said he saw no reason to depart from the jury’s recommendation.

In the most serious crime, Felix was convicted of first-degree murder for gunning down Armando Gonzalez at the victim’s Desert Hot Springs home on Aug. 11, 2004. Jurors found true a special circumstance allegation of murder in the course of a robbery, making him eligible for a death sentence.

Felix was among several people who grabbed victim after victim at or near their homes, forced them inside at gunpoint, then tied them up with zip- ties, pistol-whipped and beat them, and ransacked their homes in search of money or valuables.

In some cases, victims were kidnapped and taken to automatic teller machines or other locations to obtain money, while their children or other relatives were held at gunpoint by accomplices.

It was during that spree that Felix and alleged accomplice Javier Rodriguez Hernandez, who has been at large for more than a decade, went to Gonzalez’s home to rob him and shot him repeatedly when he resisted, prosecutors said.

It’s unclear when, if ever, Felix’s sentence will be carried out. Executions in California have been on hold since 2006, while the courts process numerous legal challenges.