Crowded Court Calendar This Week, 6 Pasadena Murder and Manslaughter Cases to Be Heard

This week, six high-profile Pasadena court cases will move forward in the Pasadena Courthouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Here’s a profile of each of these cases.

Tuesday, July 12, 8:30 a.m. Preliminary Hearing Date Setting for Robert Cotton

Robert Cotton, 33, of Altadena, is charged with fatally stabbing his mother and uncle at their Altadena home on March 22, 2021. The accused was living with the victims at the home. 

He faces two counts of murder with an allegation of using a knife as a deadly and dangerous weapon for the killing of Carol Brown, 67, and Kenneth Preston, 69. 

Cotton was arrested hours after the crime. He is currently in custody with bail set at over $4 million. 

The hearing will be at Dept. H of the Pasadena Courthouse.

Tuesday, July 12, 8:30 a.m. Preliminary Hearing Date Setting for Valentino Gutierrez

Valentino Gutierrez, 61, homeless, is charged with murdering his wife in January 2018 and then taking a train from Pasadena to Los Angeles, where the woman’s remains were allegedly set on fire in a suitcase in the parking lot of a Home Depot store. He faces one count each of murder and arson of property. He also is accused of using an accelerant.

Gutierrez was arrested on February 2, 2018 by a large contingent Los Angeles Police, after firefighters and police discovered the remains of his wife. Detectives traced him to Pasadena.

Gutierrez is currently being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, with bail set at $2.17 million.

If convicted as charged, Gutierrez faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison. 

The hearing will be at Dept. H of the Pasadena Courthouse. 

Thursday, July 14, 8:30 a.m. Pretrial Hearing for Ronald Anthony Jones

Ronald Anthony Jones, 52, was initially sentenced to death for the 1988 kidnapping, rape and shooting death of a woman who had been shopping at a Pasadena mall in October 1988.  A federal judge has since vacated his conviction. 

The victim, 26-year-old college student Lois Anne Haro, was found to have been abducted from the parking of the mall. Police later found her lying in the dirt bordering an isolated road in Pasadena on the evening of October 18, 1988. Police said she was shot in the head. Investigators found evidence of the victim having been raped. 

He and another man were convicted on a count each of murder, kidnapping for the purpose of robbery, second degree robbery, forcible rape while acting in concert, and forcible oral copulation. The charges also included four felony-murder special circumstances. Jones was later sentenced to death. 

The hearing will be at Dept. C of the Pasadena Courthouse.

Thursday, July 14, 8:30 a.m.  Pretrial Hearing for Alex Evans

Alex Edward Evans, 34, of Pasadena, is charged with fatally stabbing his 67-year-old mother in Pasadena on Sept. 24, 2018. He faces one count of murder with an allegation of using a knife as a deadly and dangerous weapon.

A Pasadena police statement said officers that day received a call “from a man stating he killed his mother.” When they arrived on-scene, the officers found the victim, Katrina Evans, lying motionless inside her home. She later died from multiple stab wounds.

Evans faces 26 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged. Bail is scheduled at more than $2 million.

The hearing will be at Dept. C of the Pasadena Courthouse.

Thursday, July 14, 8:30 a.m. Preliminary Hearing Date Setting for Alexis Ibarra

Alexis Ibarra, 24, of Pasadena, is charged in a shooting in Pasadena on Jan. 18 that left a 14- year-old boy dead and a 20-year-old man wounded. He faces murder and attempted murder charges.

Ibarra was arrested the day after and remains in custody, with bail set at $4 million.

The hearing will be at Dept. D of the Pasadena Courthouse.

Thursday, July 14, 8:30 a.m. Preliminary Hearing Date Setting Oscar Munoz-Luna

Oscar Munoz-Luna, 26, of Pasadena, is charged with one felony count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage causing injury and DUI, along with an allegation that he had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.20 percent or more, according to the criminal complaint.

The charges are connected with an incident in which a pickup truck Munoz-Luna was allegedly driving struck a parked, unoccupied vehicle on the south side of Washington Place in Pasadena on Feb. 18.

A 55-year-old Pasadena man who was in Munoz-Luna’s vehicle was taken to a hospital, where he died hours later from his injuries. Munoz-Luna and a rear-seat passenger, a 40-year-old Altadena resident, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to a hospital.

Munoz-Luna was arrested later that night. He remains in custody. 

The hearing will be at Dept. D of the Pasadena Courthouse.