Death penalty for alleged killer of officer is off the table
Suspect, 33, also charged in slaying of Santa Cruz deputy just one week later
SANTA CRUZ >> The U.S. Attorney’s Office will not seek the death penalty against a man accused of gunning down a federal protective services officer in Oakland in 2020 before killing a Santa Cruz County deputy a week later, according to legal filings.
Steven Carrillo, 33, is facing capital murder charges in the two separate shootings. In the federal case, Carrillo and codefendant Robert Justus, of Millbrae, are alleged to have conspired to shoot and kill a contracted federal protective services officer, Dave Patrick Underwood, on May 29, 2020, in Oakland.
A week later, Carrillo was arrested and charged with state capital crimes related to the alleged ambush shooting death of Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office deputy Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and the injury of two other officers June 6, 2020, in Ben Lomond.
In both cases, prosecutors had declined to rule out seeking a potential death sentence until this week. Carrillo’s indictments are considered capital
murder cases because they involve the killing of law enforcement officers.
Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office filing formally has announced its intention not to seek the death penalty in the federal case, no decision has been made in the Santa Cruz County murder case.
After court hearings in 2020 and 2021, Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell said that “we are considering all options” and that everything remained “on the table.” Rosell could not be reached for comment on the federal filing Monday.
Though capital punishment remains technically legal in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium in March 2019 on executions of the state’s existing death row inmates. Newsom since has signaled a plan to make permanent a pilot program, launched in 2020, that began the dispersal of death row inmates to alternative maximum-security facilities, according to The Associated Press.
Carrillo last appeared for a Santa Cruz County Superior Court hearing in June, when he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. To date, no jury trial schedule has been established. A date-setting hearing in the case is scheduled for April 4.
In the federal Oakland case, Carrillo’s co-defendant Robert Justus, of Millbrae, is facing a parallel legal process. U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds, similarly, will not seek the death penalty for Justus, according to her office’s filing.