Spare DeHoyos, Witness Tells Jury : Courts: Taking the convicted murderer’s life will not bring back the victim, his former landlord says.

SANTA ANA —  Character witnesses for Richard Lucio DeHoyos--including one whose sister and aunt were brutally raped and murdered--asked a Superior Court jury Wednesday to spare the convicted murderer’s life.

As DeHoyos’ death penalty hearing opened, Ruben Martinez, 58, of Panama, who was DeHoyos’ landlord in the early 1980s in that country, testified that DeHoyos was a good man who never hurt anyone. Martinez was one of several defense witnesses who asked that DeHoyos’ life be spared.

When asked whether he might feel differently if his daughter were a victim, Martinez told jurors that two of his relatives--his aunt and younger sister--were murdered more than two decades ago by five men who were later convicted and served 16 years in a Panamanian prison.

“Five men kidnaped them, raped them over and over, and then cut them into pieces,” Martinez said in an interview. He said that, at first, he was so enraged he went looking for the men. But with the passage of time and the help of his Catholic faith, he has changed his feelings.

“I believe that the only person who has the right to take life is the person who gives life,” Martinez said. “By that I mean God.”

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for DeHoyos, 35, who was convicted last month of kidnaping, raping and murdering 9-year-old Nadia Puente in March, 1989, and dumping her body at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. It was the second trial for DeHoyos, whose 1991 conviction was thrown out because of jury misconduct.

While Martinez said he understands the family’s anger at DeHoyos and hopes they can forgive him for his testimony, he said taking DeHoyos’ life will not bring back Nadia. “This is in God’s hands now,” he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert C. Gannon Jr. called one witness, Nadia’s mother, Sara Puente. She said she is reminded of her daughter each day when she puts on her makeup, recalling how Nadia would often watch and talk about the day when she, too, would wear makeup like her mother.

Sara Puente, who volunteers at an intermediate school, told jurors that Nadia wanted to become a teacher.

Defense attorney Milton C. Grimes wants jurors to spare DeHoyos’ life and recommend that he be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.