09/07/2023
** VERDICT **
A jury found defendant RAUL TORRES SERRANO, an inmate at High Desert State Prison, guilty today of the willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder of a correctional officer during an incident that occurred on May 8, 2019. The jury also found inmate Serrano guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, as well as being in possession of a sharpened instrument while confined in a penal institution.
The testimony provided that the officer performed a cell check on inmate Serrano some hours before the attack, finding and seizing contraband and thereby angering inmate Serrano. Later, inmate Serrano then obtained a weapon and attempted to stab the officer in a day room while telling the officer he was going to kill him.
A sentencing date has not yet been set. The willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder of a peace officer is punished by a term of 15 years-life.
There are legislators working in Sacramento who keep pushing to shorten sentences, abolish life sentences, reclassify offenses as "nonviolent", and release thousands of offenders onto our streets, without consideration that the offenders currently in state prison are there for "serious" and/or "violent" offenses and are continuing to commit acts of violence therein. Inmate Serrano attacked and attempted to murder a correctional officer for something as small as seizing contraband - something that likely would have resolved administratively with a rules violation. Yet offenders like him are who our law makers want to send back into our neighborhoods.
We appreciate the jurors time and attention over the last two days, especially coming in on a Tuesday after a long weekend. The case was investigated and submitted by HDSP-ISU and prosecuted by Special Prosecutor Jordan Funk.
