HILLSBORO, Ore. -- Ricardo Serrano was informed Tuesday that he would die for murdering Melody Dang and her two teenage sons in 2006.
Washington County Circuit Court Judge Steven Price sentenced Serrano in accordance with the jury's verdict, which was handed down last Thursday.
Serrano was convicted last month on 10 counts of aggravated murder in the grisly "love triangle murder" of Dang and her boys, 15-year-old Steven and 12-year-old Jimmy, as revenge against the woman's live-in boyfriend.
A friend of the Dangs addressed Serrano in court Tuesday and tried to make him aware of the horror of his crimes. "They didn’t even know what was going on. It’s unbelievable that somebody could plan something out like that on three innocent people," Dan Thompson said.
More: What it's like on death row in Oregon
Capital murder trials are two-part: conviction and sentence. The jury took less than 10 days to reach a guilty verdict on all counts. Sentencing completed Thursday. Death sentence cases are automatically appealed under Oregon state law.
No comment from Serrano
Ricardo Serrano's attorney spoke for him in court Tuesday. When asked by Judge Price whether he had anything to say to the Dang family, he declined.
Judge Price ordered Serrano to die and also to pay the attorney's costs for the Dang family.
Prosecution
The state portrayed Serrano as a vengeful husband who killed the family as retribution for his wife's infidelity with Dang's live-in boyfriend, Mike Nguyen.
Melody, Steven, and Jimmy were found dead in November 2006, months after Serrano's wife informed him that she was pregnant with Nguyen's child. Prosecutors said Serrano wanted to hurt Nguyen and believed that the worst way to inflict pain on him was through his wife and kids - the three most important people in his life.
The night of the murders, Nguyen was the one who found the three bullet-ridden bodies when he returned home from work. Dang had been shot in the heart, police reports said, and the two boys were shot in the chest. The three had been eating dinner and watching a movie. Jimmy tried to hide in a bathroom, but Serrano kicked open the door and shot him at close range, prosecutor Gina Skinner said in court, illustrating the derranged killer's strong intent to murder all of them.
Following Thursday's sentencing hearing, Serrano will be sent directly to the Oregon State Penitentiary where he will be segregated from the general population. Executions are conducted by lethal injection in Oregon.
Oregon reinstated capital punishment in 1984, but the state's first execution in 34 years did not occur until September 6, 1996, when Douglas Franklin Wright died by lethal injection in the execution room at Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
