"So long as we live, they too shall live and love for they are a part of us as we remember them."- Gates of Prayer
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In 1999, Teresa del Rio was shot through her
car door in Los Angeles by a “shooter for gangs” with a 9mm. (Photo courtesy) [PHOTO
SOURCE: http://voxxi.com/2012/10/29/california-death-penalty-measure-victims/]
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Teresa Del Rio (November 8, 1978 to June 7,
1999) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.jfmc.org/reward.html]
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We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The
VFFDP, will send our utmost condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the parents
of Teresa Del Rio, who was killed in a drive by shooting on this date, June 7,
1999. We do not only remember her on the date she died but we will remember her
birthday on November 8 every year.
We will always support you, Fernando
and Anna, in your victims’ rights organizations. We also endorse Marsy’s Law
and you are always in our prayers. We also thank you that you played a part in
defeating Proposition 34.
God bless you both and we present
this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in one of his writing, The Friend:
Distant or near,in joy or in sorrow,each in the othersees his true helperto brotherly freedom.
We will be commending two prayers from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:
A Prayer for All Conditions of Men:O God, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; [especially those for whom our prayers are desired]; that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.Burial of the Dead 1662:ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity: We give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world; beseeching thee that it may please thee, of thy gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Teresa Del Rio (November 8, 1978 to June 7,
1999) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.teresadelrio.org/]
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Teresa
Del Rio's Killer
Published on Mar 16, 2013
Teresa's parents speak about their
daughter's murder and the killers 2 other victims, and the parents outrage that
justice was not served.
VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e78aTGhEz3w
California
death penalty measure stirs ire of crime victims
By Tony
Castro
Proposition 34 measure would end the
California’s seldom used death penalty and commute the death sentences of more
than 700 inmates to life without parole.
What would you do if your only child—a college-age daughter—was shot to death and her
killer, who had also murdered two other people, was caught and then got what
you considered to be a surprisingly light sentence?
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Anna and Fernando Del Rio of suburban Los
Angeles. (Photo courtesy) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://voxxi.com/2012/10/29/california-death-penalty-measure-victims/]
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Chances are
that, after grieving for your loss, you would do what Anna and Fernando Del Rio
of suburban Los Angeles have done as they try to seek a sense of justice.
“In
November I am voting for the death penalty,” says Anna,
who has become a victims rights and Crime Stoppers advocate of the
controversial California ballot initiative, Proposition 34, many see as a
referendum on the state’s death penalty.
Anna and
Fernando’s daughter Teresa, 20, was murdered
13 years ago—a moment that dramatically changed the lives of the Del
Rios who for years had been active leaders in the city’s political and social
circles.
Fernando, a
former White House aide in the Johnson and Nixon administrations, is a widely
respected Emmy-winning journalist who has covered stories all over the world
and is a leader in the city’s Hispanic community.
Friends of
tenor Placido Domingos, the Del Rios also were co-founders of Hispanics for the
Opera, a group promoting the
arts among Latinos in Los Angeles.
But their
world fell apart on a night in 1999 when Teresa, a popular student at Glendale
Community College, was giving friends a ride home from school.
In the
Silver Lake section of Los Angeles, Teresa turned a corner to one of the
friends’ houses when a young man standing on the side of the road fired
multiple shots into her car.
Teresa was
hit but her three passengers were unhurt and drove her to a local hospital.
There, with her parents at her side, she died several hours later.
Anna was
nearly inconsolable, and the city’s Hispanic community
was shocked by the senseless tragedy.
“I remember
when Teresa was born,” recalled longtime friend Lucy Casado. “Fernando was on
cloud nine. He called and said, ‘I wanted you to be among the first to hear the
news. I have a daughter!’”
As they
tried to heal, both Anna and Fernando dedicated themselves to establishing a
scholarship in their daughter’s memory and to becoming advocates for tougher
crackdowns on criminals.
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Fernando del Rio and his daughter Teresa.
(Photo courtesy) [PHOTO SOURCE: http://voxxi.com/2012/10/29/california-death-penalty-measure-victims/]
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Family of victim stunned at light
sentence, now supports death penalty
When police arrested a suspect in
their daughter’s case, the Del Rios thought they would finally get closure.
Roberto Franklin Ramirez was charged
with the senseless
killing. According to police, he was also responsible for two other murders
and the attempted murder of three other victims.
But the Del Rios weren’t prepared for
what happened next.
“He was rewarded with a plea bargain,”
says Anna. “He will be eligible for parole in 12 years. If denied, he has to
serve only 6 more years, and then he will be out in the streets at the age of
50. I don’t want my tax monies going to his support.”
This year Anna and other victims’
advocates have had their fury against soft penalties renewed by Proposition 34.
The ballot measure would end the
state’s seldom used death penalty and would commute the death sentences of
California’s more than 700 condemned inmates to life with no possibility of
parole.
Like many ballot measures, this one is
tricky. If you are voting for the death penalty, you want to vote against the
initiative.
Supporters of the measure—wanting to end the death
penalty—launched
radio and television advertisements Monday that depict capital punishment as a
useless, costly exercise that costs taxpayers and actually coddles criminals.
California reluctant to use death
penalty, despite law
“Do you know we have the death penalty
in California?” actor Edward James Olmos asks in a radio spot for Proposition 34.
“You might not, because we almost never use it.”
Since 1978, only 13 inmates have been
executed in California, according to the ad, and state officials say that as
much as $130 million a year could be saved if the death penalty is abolished.
“Death row inmates get special legal teams that work for them, but they don’t work or pay 1 cent to the victim’s families, like other inmates do,” Olmos says. “They just sit in private cells, watching TV.”
The pro-Proposition 34 supporters have $2
million to use for ads alone. Opponents have raised less than a million
dollars, and they are relying on prosecutors, police and crime victims like the
Del Rios to get out its message.
The idea of ending the death penalty
is a difficult notion for families of crime victims to swallow.
For Anna Del Rio, it is an endless
fight that at times has made her the target of intimidation tactics by violent
Los Angeles gangs.
Two years ago, she arose in the
morning to find that someone had spray-painted “AVE 543” and “187”—a gang moniker and a
police code for murder—across
her garage doors along with a profane word.
Del Rio believes she was targeted by a
neighborhood gang either because of her work with Crime Stoppers or because
they mistook her for a police informant.
But she refuses to back down.
“They gutted me. They took
my soul. They took my heart,”
she says of losing her daughter to a gang member. “I
don’t know why. I have no feelings. I don’t feel scared.”
“They don’t scare me. Hell,
no. Excuse my language, but no, I am not going to be intimidated.”
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