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Earlier this week, law enforcement announced the arrest of 25-year-old Steven Guerrero for a triple homicide that occurred at a home near Lodi in June.After confusion and conflicting statements from press conferences on Monday and Tuesday regarding the murders, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow sat down with KCRA 3 to clarify some aspects of the investigation.Q: The D.A. comes and says that there was no relationship at all between the suspect and the victims. Posing the question of why was this not told to anyone for three months? Can you please clarify? A: “Yeah, absolutely. I spoke with the D.A. today and last night, and, first of all, he apologizes. You know, he had so much on his mind, and, with the arraignment he had just done. And we’re both trying to do this dance with this case— that we give the public the information that we can, and yet we don’t damage the case at all.” The sheriff had people representing him at Tuesday’s press conference. Q: Why didn’t they jump in and clarify that the D.A. was saying something incorrect?A: “Well, I should have been at that press conference, but I was in a legal hearing at the time, and the people I had at the press conference, my employees and it was the lieutenant and some of the officers over the case, it was really not their place and I wouldn’t have felt that I would have wanted them to jump in.”Q: He’s committed multiple crimes before now. You suspect he’s killed three people. Why didn’t you release a photo of him? Why didn’t you tell anyone that a family of three was killed? And you suspected that it was Mr. Guerrero?A: “Well, the keyword there is suspected. And Mr. Guerrero had done his time. Apparently, if he’d committed crimes in prison, as you say. And, we don’t just go out and get to arrest people that we think did something.”Q: You suspected that he had done it, but you didn’t know for sure? So waited more than three months to make an arrest?A: “Right. You want to gather all the evidence that you can, and you want to make sure you have a strong case.” When asked whether or not they had enough evidence to make the arrest sooner, the sheriff said he cannot go into the details.“This would not be a case where we would release a photo because we identified him,” he said. “We knew who he was, we knew where he was and so we did not need the public’s assistance on that.Q: And you did not think that he was a danger to anyone in the community other than that family that he allegedly killed?A: “We did not think there was a threat to our community.” In court on Tuesday, the judge asked Guerrero if he understood that one of the punishments he could face is the death penalty. Guerrero responded, “Yep, that’s fine with me.”Q: That’s the person who was out on the loose, not put behind bars for more than three months that nobody in the public had a photo of. Nobody was aware of this. Anything you want to comment on that?Answer: “I saw that on your newscast, and I would just say to the public that, unfortunately, there are people in our community right now who have that same attitude, and that’s why you have the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office and every other law enforcement agency in this county, working day and night, diligent and putting themselves between those people and your families.”San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas declined an interview on Wednesday, but a spokesperson said that the district attorney met with the sheriff in the morning and his office aligns with the sheriff’s statement. They have not said where the information the DA said yesterday came from or why he misspoke.KCRA 3 also received more information about how the suspect and victims knew each other.The sheriff said the suspect was doing some type of job around the house, and had interacted with at least one of the victims who lived in the home.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. —
Earlier this week, law enforcement announced the arrest of 25-year-old Steven Guerrero for a triple homicide that occurred at a home near Lodi in June.
After confusion and conflicting statements from press conferences on Monday and Tuesday regarding the murders, San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow sat down with KCRA 3 to clarify some aspects of the investigation.
Q: The D.A. comes and says that there was no relationship at all between the suspect and the victims. Posing the question of why was this not told to anyone for three months? Can you please clarify?
A: “Yeah, absolutely. I spoke with the D.A. today and last night, and, first of all, he apologizes. You know, he had so much on his mind, and, with the arraignment he had just done. And we’re both trying to do this dance with this case— that we give the public the information that we can, and yet we don’t damage the case at all.”
The sheriff had people representing him at Tuesday’s press conference.
Q: Why didn’t they jump in and clarify that the D.A. was saying something incorrect?
A: “Well, I should have been at that press conference, but I was in a legal hearing at the time, and the people I had at the press conference, my employees and it was the lieutenant and some of the officers over the case, it was really not their place and I wouldn’t have felt that I would have wanted them to jump in.”
Q: He’s committed multiple crimes before now. You suspect he’s killed three people. Why didn’t you release a photo of him? Why didn’t you tell anyone that a family of three was killed? And you suspected that it was Mr. Guerrero?
A: “Well, the keyword there is suspected. And Mr. Guerrero had done his time. Apparently, if he’d committed crimes in prison, as you say. And, we don’t just go out and get to arrest people that we think did something.”
Q: You suspected that he had done it, but you didn’t know for sure? So waited more than three months to make an arrest?
A: “Right. You want to gather all the evidence that you can, and you want to make sure you have a strong case.”
When asked whether or not they had enough evidence to make the arrest sooner, the sheriff said he cannot go into the details.
“This would not be a case where we would release a photo because we identified him,” he said. “We knew who he was, we knew where he was and so we did not need the public’s assistance on that.
Q: And you did not think that he was a danger to anyone in the community other than that family that he allegedly killed?
A: “We did not think there was a threat to our community.”
In court on Tuesday, the judge asked Guerrero if he understood that one of the punishments he could face is the death penalty. Guerrero responded, “Yep, that’s fine with me.”
Q: That’s the person who was out on the loose, not put behind bars for more than three months that nobody in the public had a photo of. Nobody was aware of this. Anything you want to comment on that?
Answer: “I saw that on your newscast, and I would just say to the public that, unfortunately, there are people in our community right now who have that same attitude, and that’s why you have the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office and every other law enforcement agency in this county, working day and night, diligent and putting themselves between those people and your families.”
San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas declined an interview on Wednesday, but a spokesperson said that the district attorney met with the sheriff in the morning and his office aligns with the sheriff’s statement. They have not said where the information the DA said yesterday came from or why he misspoke.
KCRA 3 also received more information about how the suspect and victims knew each other.
The sheriff said the suspect was doing some type of job around the house, and had interacted with at least one of the victims who lived in the home.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
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