Man gets 66 years in prison for murder

More than six years after the killing of a Chinese businessman, the Superior Court sentenced yesterday the man convicted of his murder to 66 years in prison—the highest criminal penalty so far imposed by the CNMI judiciary.

Associate judge Juan T. Lizama meted out the sentence on Franklin Cabrera Cepeda Jr., who was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery after a full-blown trial last January. The judge also convicted Cepeda of other charges, including aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy.

The prison sentence, however, entails the possibility of parole, which Cepeda may apply for after serving at least 22 years in prison.

Cepeda’s convictions stemmed from the killing of Rong Zhou inside the trader’s Yellow House Karaoke in San Jose and robbing the businessman.

On March 1, 1999, Cepeda, together with George Ilo, both of whom were 22 years old then, killed the trader after the latter refused to give them money. The businessman sustained multiple stab wounds, including two that pierced the victim’s heart.

Zhou had grappled with Ilo for possession of the knife that Ilo was holding. Cepeda then hit Zhou with a baseball bat, causing the victim to feel dizzy. Ilo stabbed the trader and backed out, after which Cepeda took the knife and repeatedly stabbed Zhou. Cepeda took the trader’s wallet containing cash and left the victim lying in a pool of blood.

Assistant attorney general Rebecca Warfield called the sentence a “just judgment,” saying it would protect the CNMI from Cepeda’s violent nature.

“It’s a just result but it’s nothing that you can be happy about,” Warfield said, expressing sympathy for the trader’s widow and child. “The victim is dead. You can’t give his life back.”

Warfield and CNMI chief prosecutor David Hutton lauded the Department of Public Safety and its Criminal Investigation Bureau for resurrecting the murder case that led to the identification of the suspects.

Prosecutors had earlier charged one Jeffrey Taimanao DeLeon Guerrero over a year after the killing, but a jury found him innocent of the murder.

“It doesn’t matter how [old] the case is. The file never closes until the day justice is served,” Hutton said.

Cepeda had served jail term at a federal prison facility in Los Angeles, California for his conviction on mail fraud by the Guam federal district court.