Juan Corona

Juan Corona

Corona at age 77Background information

Birth name Juan Vallejo CoronaAlso known as The Machete Murderer

Born 1934 (age 77–78)Autlán, Jalisco, Mexico

Conviction 25 counts of murder in the first degree

Sentence 25 life sentences without possibility of parole

KillingsNumber of victims: 25

Span of killings Approximately February 1, 1971–May 19, 1971

Country United StatesState(s) California

Date apprehended May 26, 1971Juan Vallejo Corona (born c. 1934) is a Mexican-born

Juan Vallejo Corona (born c. 1934) is a mexicano….

Early LifeEarly lifeBorn in Autlán, Jalisco state, Mexico, Corona first entered the United States in 1950. Crossing the border into California illegally, the 16-year-old picked carrots and melons in the Imperial Valley for three months before moving on north to the Sacramento Valley. His half-brother, Natividad Corona (c. 1923-May 23, 1973), had migrated to the state in 1944 to work, and settled at Marysville, across the Feather River from Yuba City.Corona moved to the Marysville/Yuba City area in May 1953, at the suggestion of Natividad, and found work on a local ranch. He was first married to Gabriella E. Hermosillo on October 24, 1953, in Reno, Nevada.1 In 1959, he married Gloria I. Moreno and they had four daughters.In late December 1955, a flood occurred on the Yuba and Feather Rivers. It was one of the most widespread and destructive of any in the recorded history of Northern California.2 A rush of water broke through the west levee and flooded 150 square miles (390 km2), killing 38 people. Corona was strangely affected by the death and destruction and had a mental breakdown. He believed everyone had died in the flood and that he was living in a land of ghosts.Corona was suffering from an episode of schizophrenia.3 On January 17, 1956, Natividad had him committed to DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California, where he was diagnosed with "schizophrenic reaction, paranoid type." He received 23 shock treatments, before being pronounced recovered and released only three months later.

Evidence

EvidenceJuan Corona had been supplying workers to the ranches where the victims were discovered. He housed a lot of the men that worked for him in a bunkhouse on the Sullivan Ranch, where most of the victims were discovered.In one grave, deputies found two meat receipts bearing Corona's signature.5 In another two graves, there were two crumpled Bank of America deposit slips printed with Corona's name and address. This circumstantial evidence gave an added boost to the case.6

Witnesses later told police that some of the victims had been last seen riding in Corona's pickup truck.In the early morning hours of May 26, 1971, police entered Corona's Yuba City home with a search warrant and arrested him. Evidence indicating his guilt was discovered and seized, such as two bloodstained knives, a machete, a pistol and blood-stained clothing. There was also a work ledger that contained 34 names and dates, including seven of the known victims. The ledger came to be referred to as a "death list" by the prosecution, who alleged it recorded the dates the men were murdered.

Legal Proceedings

Legal proceedingsCorona was provided legal aid and assigned a public defender, Roy Van den Heuvel, who hired several psychiatrists to perform a psychological evaluation. Although the sheriff, Roy Whiteaker, said the prisoner was in no apparent or immediate danger from his fellow townsmen, Corona was moved to the new and larger county jail in Marysville, on May 30, 1971, for "security reasons."7

On June 2, Corona was returned to Sutter County for arraignment, which was closed to the media and public. A plea of not guilty was entered and a date was set for Corona's preliminary hearing .8

By the time the search was terminated on June 4, a total of 25 male victims had been discovered. Four of them were unidentified. Whiteaker said he believed that even more bodies might have been buried in the area.

Trial

TrialIt took over a year after the murders were discovered for the case against Corona to come to trial. The California Supreme Court voided the death penalty in the state on February 18, 1972, ruling it unconstitutional, cruel and unusual.14 Therefore, it would not be a capital case. Hawk succeeded in getting a change of venue from Sutter County, to Solano County.The trial began on September 11, 1972, at the courthouse in Fairfield, California, more than an hour from Yuba City. Jury selection took several weeks, and the trial itself another three months.15

Though Corona denied culpability, he was not called to the stand to testify in his own defense and no defense witnesses were called. The jury deliberated for 45 hours and returned a verdict, on January 18, 1973, finding Corona guilty of first degree murder on all 25 counts charged.16 The judge, Richard Patton, sentenced Corona to 25 terms of life imprisonment, to run consecutively, without the possibility of parole.17 Despite being sentenced to so many consecutive terms, the Department of Corrections said that Corona would be eligible for parole in seven years, citing section 669 of the penal code, which mandates that when a crime is punished by life imprisonment, with or without the possibility of parole, then all other convictions shall be merged and run concurrently.18

Second TrialSecond trial

On May 18, 1978, Corona's conviction was overturned by the California Court of Appeals, granting a petition by defense attorney Terence Hallinan, claiming Corona's original legal

team had been incompetent. They had not put forward schizophrenia as a mitigating factor or pleaded the insanity defense.3 A new trial was ordered.

The second trial began on February 22, 1982, in Hayward, California.22 Corona's defense posited that the real murderer of the ranch workers was most likely Natividad Corona, a known homosexual who was accused of attacking Romero Raya at his cafe in Marysville, and after losing the lawsuit Raya filed had fled back to his native Mexico.23 Natividad had

died eight years earlier in Guadalajara.24

This time around, more than 50 defense witnesses were called to the stand by Hallinan. Corona was called in his own defense. He was asked only two questions, through an

interpreter, taking only two minutes. "Do you understand the state has accused you of killing 25 men?" "Yes," Corona answered, almost inaudibly. "Did you have anything to do with killing those men?" "No," Corona replied. Hallinan then turned Corona over to the

prosecutor, Ronald Fahey, for cross-examination. Startled prosecution attorneys requested a brief recess to gather their wits and prepare some of the more than 630 exhibits for their cross.25 Later, Fahey questioned Corona about various vans and cars he used at the ranch

where he worked and where he lived, in which some weapons were found.

Later YearsLater yearsJuan Corona was transferred from CTF at Soledad to Corcoran State Prison, Corcoran, California, in 1992, where he is currently serving a life sentence in the Security Housing Unit (SHU).Corona, who has been eligible for parole hearings six times, was denied parole on Dec. 5, 2011, and will not be eligible for another hearing until 2016.27

Further Reading

Further readingCray, Ed. Burden of Proof: The Case of Juan

Corona. New York: Macmillan, 1973. ISBN 0025287702

Kidder, Tracy. The Road to Yuba City: A Journey into the Juan Corona Murders. Garden

City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974. ISBN 0385028653

Villaseñor, Victor. Jury: The People vs. Juan Corona. Boston: Little Brown, 1977.

ISBN 0316903000 Talbitzer, Bill. Too Much Blood. New York: Vantage Press, 1978. ISBN 0533038014 Cartel, Michael. Disguise of Sanity: Serial

Mass Murderers. Toluca Lake, Calif.: Pepperbox Books, 1985. ISBN 0961462507

References

References^ Washoe County Clerk, Reno, NV, Marriage License No. 386376. ^ "1955 Flood". http://www.escalera.com/safelevee/1955flood.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-26. ^ a b "Juan Corona". LatinAmericanStudies.org. http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/corona.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-30. ^ Kidder, Tracy (1974). The Road to Yuba City. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385028653. ^ Los Angeles Times, Oct. 11, 1972, "The State --- Corona Receipts Found in Grave, Trial Told," p. A2 ^ Ramsland, Katherine. "Juan Corona". http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/juan_corona/index.html. Retrieved 2007-07-30. ^ Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1971, "Suspect in Mass Murders Moved to Marysville Jail," p. 1 ^ Los Angeles Times, Jun. 3, 1971, "Yuba City Mass Murder Suspect Pleads Innocent," p. 1 ^ Los Angeles Times, Jun. 15, 1971, "Attorney Dismissed in Mass Murder Case," p. C19 ^ Los Angeles Times, Jun. 16, 1971, "No Plea of Insanity Planned for Corona,'" p. 32 ^ Los Angeles Times, from Yuba City (UPI), Jun. 30, 1971, "Mild Heart Attack Suffered By Corona," p. 18