Crime

A Banning jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision today on murder and other charges in the trial of a probationer accused of fatally shooting a Coachella Valley man, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial.   Jurors in the trial of Hector Ramiro Yamanaka Ruiz, 45, had been deliberating since Wednesday morning, but informed

A man pled guilty today to a hit-and-run that caused the death of a 39-year-old man in Palm Springs and was sentenced to 90 days of county jail and two years of formal probation. Chad Steinmetz, 42, pleaded guilty Friday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to one felony count of hit-and-run causing death

The Desert Hot Springs Police Department today advised residents about unknown people posing as police or fire officials seeking donations. People in uniform, posing as police and fire department officials, were believed to have been soliciting donations door-to-door in residential neighborhoods, according to police. “This community advisory is to notify the residents of Desert Hot

Jurors deadlocked today in the sanity trial of a 37-year-old man who gunned down his octogenarian grandparents in Palm Desert, in what his attorney contends were acts of a mentally disturbed person, but the prosecution maintains were outright murders. Deliberations began Jan. 11 after a few days of testimony in the mental competency trial of

Attempted murder charges were dropped against a man accused in an Indio shooting two years ago. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to new allegations of committing a felony in association with a gang. Tasaun Thomas, 25, of Indio, and 22-year-old Kevin Rene Duarte were each charged with one felony count of attempted murder and two

A 34-year-old man who slipped into an inebriated woman’s room at the Palm Springs hotel where he worked and sexually assaulted her as she lay unconscious was sentenced today to seven years to life in state prison. A Banning jury in November deliberated less than a day before finding Alejandro “Alex” Adan of Desert Hot

Jury deliberations resumed today in the sanity trial of a 37-year-old man who gunned down his octogenarian grandparents in Palm Desert, in what his attorney contends were acts of a mentally disturbed person, but the prosecution maintains were outright murders. Deliberations began Jan. 11 after a few days of testimony in the mental competency trial

A felon accused of beating a Cabazon man with a chunk of wood and stabbing him multiple times must stand trial on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, a judge ruled today. Sergio Martinez Gutierrez, 45, was arrested last summer following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.   At the end of a preliminary

A convicted felon accused of stabbing a 35-year-old Banning man during a street confrontation, then hitting a police officer with a brick while trying to get away, pleaded not guilty today to assault on a peace officer and other offenses.   Alejandro Munoz, 31, was arrested last week following a Banning Police Department investigation. Along with

A man suspected of shooting a 25-year-old man multiple times in a Coachella parking lot re-entered a not guilty plea to attempted murder today. Issac Vargas, 24, also faces sentence-enhancing allegations of committing a crime while on bail, causing great bodily injury, and discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury, according to court records. He

A 37-year-old suspected in the fatal shooting of a man in Indio re-entered not guilty pleas today to felony charges including murder.    Hilario Muela of Indio was charged with one felony count each of murder, being a convicted felon and narcotic addict in possession of a firearm, possessing controlled substances while armed, and possessing

A 66-year-old man who fatally stabbed his girlfriend during a frenzied attack in Palm Springs ignited when she ended their relationship was sentenced today to 26 years to life in state prison. A Riverside jury in November convicted Miguel Hernandez Toscano of first-degree murder, child cruelty and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon