Ricky Martin Ortiz, 24, was on trial for murder in the 2020 shooting death of a Winchester resident when a jury deadlocked on a verdict on Dec. 23, 2024. A mistrial was declared. (Courtesy of Riverside County Sheriff’s Department)
A Riverside County jury deliberating in a murder case announced this week that it was hopelessly deadlocked — with one juror holding out for acquittal — and a mistrial was declared.
District Attorney’s spokeswoman Thalia Hayden said the office plans to retry the case, which resulted from a shooting during a robbery in a marijuana sale. The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 18 in Superior Court in Riverside.
Eleven of the 12 jurors favored finding 24-year-old Ricky Martin Ortiz guilty, DA’s spokesman John Hall said, of gunning down 21-year-old Gustavo Hernandez of Perris in his car the night of March 4, 2020, on Whitaker Street in Winchester.
The trial began on Dec. 10, and jurors began deliberating late Thursday afternoon, Dec. 19. They resumed debating the evidence on Dec. 23 and concluded that day by telling Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Perantoni that they would not be able to reach the required unanimous verdict.
Ortiz has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of assault with a gun and one count of robbery. A special-circumstances allegation of murder in the commission of a robbery made Ortiz eligible for the death penalty, a sentence that District Attorney Mike Hestrin did not pursue. Ortiz faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged.
Two others were charged with murder in the killing. Both men, Omar Arango, 23, and Joe Natividad Orosco III, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery on July 30. Arango was sentenced to one year in jail and released after receiving credit for time served; Orosco is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 8.
Prosecutors said in a brief they filed that on the night of the shooting, Ortiz approached the car that Hernandez had parked to buy two pounds of marijuana. His girlfriend sat in the back seat with Hernandez’s 2-year-old child.
The girlfriend told investigators that Hernandez said he was comfortable selling to Ortiz because they had done business before.
Ortiz asked to be able to take one of the bags of marijuana to a friend’s car for inspection. When Hernandez refused, Ortiz filmed the bag, got out of the car and a few seconds later, shot Hernandez in the head and upper body. Ortiz grabbed a bag of marijuana and fled, prosecutors said. He was arrested three days later.
Arango then went through the mortally wounded Arango’s pockets. And Orosco was listed as the owner of a Volkswagen that was identified as the car that transported Ortiz and Arango to and from the crime scene, prosecutors said.
Ortiz’s attorney sought to exclude evidence including a list of Ortiz’s past crimes and gang affiliation, as well as a photo showing him holding a gun and incriminating messages he deleted from his phone.
During deliberations, jurors asked for the girlfriend’s testimony to be re-read and copies of transcripts of investigator interviews with Ortiz.
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