California Supreme Court Overturns Convicted Killer's Death Sentence

The California Supreme Court today reversed the death sentence of a man convicted of killing two women, including the mother of Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, in a West Los Angeles home in March 1983.

The state's high court ruled that John Riccardi, now 76, was denied a fair trial because the trial judge erroneously excused a prospective juror during jury selection. The juror had expressed inconsistent views about the death penalty in her responses to a written questionnaire, but the judge did not question her in open court before dismissing her.

"(W)e conclude the trial court erred by failing to question (the juror) in open court to determine whether she was excusable as someone who could not face of the enormity of the task of judging life or death," the court stated in its ruling on Riccardi's automatic appeal.

It was the third Los Angeles County case since last December in which the California Supreme Court has thrown out death sentences.

Riccardi -- one of the oldest inmates on California's death row -- was convicted by a Santa Monica Superior Court jury and sentenced to death in 1994 for killing his 41-year-old estranged girlfriend, Connie Hopkins Navarro, and her friend, Sue Marshall Jory.

Connie Navarro and Jory, 42, were found dead in Navarro's condominium on March 4, 1983. Both women had been shot with a handgun.

According to trial testimony, Riccardi had been upset about the breakup of his 30-month relationship with Navarro in January 1983 and had stalked her for the two months leading up to the killings.

"Two weeks before the killings, defendant armed himself, broke into Connie's home, attempted to conceal his break-in, hid a firearm, discovered David Navarro was present and handcuffed him, but may have been deterred from killing Connie due to David's presence," the Supreme Court ruling states.

At the time, David Navarro was 15 years old and regarded Riccardi as "a trusted friend," according to the ruling.

Riccardi, who fled Los Angeles after the killings, was arrested in 1991 in Texas after the TV crime show "America's Most Wanted" aired three segments about the case. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder after a trial in which David Navarro testified about being handcuffed by the defendant.

During jury selection, a prospective juror identified only as N.K. wrote in her response to one question in the questionnaire that she would not automatically and absolutely refuse to vote for the death penalty in any case. But in response to another question, she wrote, "I'm afraid I could not feel right in imposing the death penalty on someone even though I feel it is nessasary (sic) under some circumstances."

Judge David D. Perez excused the juror without inquiring any further. But in overturning Riccardi's death sentence, the Supreme Court said he erred because "N.K.'s answers did not clearly reveal that she was unable to impose the death penalty, thereby preventing her from performing her duties as a juror."

Dave Navarro joined Jane's Addiction as lead guitarist in 1986. He has also played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.