UPDATE: GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS
The trial for Cherie Rhoades, the woman accused of killing four people and wounding two others in a 2014 mass shooting at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office in Alturas began Monday in Placer County.
UPDATE: Judge refuses to allow cameras in the courtroom.
UPDATE: Word coming that the Prosecution has rested. Defense up.
Alturas mass murder suspect, Cherie Lash-Rhodes, was found guilty on all counts Monday in a Placer County courtroom.
According to the Modoc County Record, Lash-Rhodes was found guilty on four counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Sentencing has been scheduled for early January.
The Modoc County Record added the jury took about two hours to reach a decision.
Lash-Rhodes shot six people at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office in Alturas, ultimately killing four on February 20, 2014.
The trial for Cherie Rhoades, the woman accused of killing four people and wounding two others in a 2014 mass shooting at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office in Alturas began Monday in Placer County.
UPDATE: Judge refuses to allow cameras in the courtroom.
UPDATE: Word coming that the Prosecution has rested. Defense up.
Rhoades faces the death penalty.
The attack happened on February 20, 2014, during an eviction hearing for Rhoades. Sources close to the investigation say that Rhoades shot the victims execution style, and that once she ran out of ammunition, she chased one of her nieces down the road with a butcher knife and stabbed her.
"It's two and a half years later and it's picking the scab off that wound again," Philip Russo said.
His wife, Sheila Russo was killed in the shooting. She was the tribal administrator at the time, and had allegedly uncovered a paper trail showing Rhoades had misused tribal funds. At the time, FOX40 confirmed a federal investigation was ongoing. Russo believed that investigation, combined with the tribe's move to evict Rhoades, led to the shooting.
Authorities and Rhoades' attorney told FOX40 what took place inside the tribal office was caught on camera.
Sheila Russo was the only victim of the mass shooting not related to Rhoades. The other victims were Rhoade's own brother Rurik Davis, her niece Angel Penn, and her nephew Glenn Calonico.
The two surviving victims were her other nieces.
"They played the video and the audio today, something I particularly don't want to see, so I left the courtroom for that...It's a roller coaster of emotions, from anger to sadness, to anxiety. It's hard facing evil like that," Russo said.
But Rhoades' attorney, Antonio Alvarez asked that the public reserve judgement on the case until it came to a close. He spoke to FOX40 over the phone, saying that the trial would serve several purposes: to uncover not only what happened in the tribal office, but why, as well as determining the accused killer's level of culpability, if she was found guilty.
2 comments:
The case has finally been brought to an ending. All that need to be done now is the sentencing phase. In which I strongly believe that she deserves the death penalty. She took away from me two things that I can never get back my children, Angel Penn n Glenn calonico . so ya she should die just like my children did….it took me awhile before it finally sunk into my heart. I miss them both very much n there always in my thoughts n in my prayers. I'll always love them til I die, forever my love ur DaD
Cherie was bullied growing up and she was I the baby of the siblings and took care of everything she could. Her big addiction was Pepsi in the bottle. Something else happened, like she was being framed by her family with criminal records where she only took care of her family. She was pushed too far, it wasn't right but 8she doesn't deserve the lies before and after.
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