Albert Lee Blake
Blake, 49, was charged with the murder and attempted murder when he shot three employees in Otay, Mesa, at the Church’s Chicken. On November 6, Blake engaged in altercations with a female employee when she stopped him from using counterfeit money (Figueroa & Repard, 2020). After several hours later, Blake walked into the facility and opened fire and shot three employees, killing one and injuring the duo. Authorities conducted surveillance to identify the victim arrested him on November 22, in Tennessee.
The key figures involved in the shooting case include Albert Lee Blake himself. He fatally shot Maribel Merino-Ibanez, a 28-year-old female (Self, 2019). His bullets also wounded two other unidentified men at the Church’s Chicken facility on Del Sol Boulevard. They were later hospitalized in unknown conditions. Police officers and investigators collaborated to arrest Blake and eventually arraigned him in court. The authorities recorded a statement that Blake tried to use a counterfeit $100 bill to purchase food at the Church’s Chicken restaurant when the personnel at the facility stopped him, instigating a verbal argument before he left the restaurant. After several moments later, Blake returned with a handgun and shot the three employees. The court maintained that Blake will face 114 years imprisonment upon conviction. However, prosecutors argued that Blake’s case is illegible for the death penalty, despite the court documents presenting evidence that Blake had a lengthy history of criminal offenses dating back to the 1990s. Blake was later released upon pleading not guilty. He was finally held in lieu of $5 million bail pending status conference on December 19.
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The court was involved in the case, and Blake appeared in a courtroom in Memphis, Tennessee. The evidence from the Chula Vista courthouse maintained that Blake should face between 25 years and a life sentence if convicted of murdering Ibanez. The court identified the names of the two other men injured in the incident, citing that Blake had seriously wounded Humberto Gerado Cota and Mario Rojas. Furthermore, the court found that Blake had committed several offenses, and had been arrested severally in San Diego County since 1987 (Iranpour, 2019). In consultation with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Blake had been sentenced to CDCR four times before the Church’s Chicken incident. He had earlier on engaged in second-degree burglary and he had been sentenced for two years. He had also received stolen property in 1990, although not within the jurisdiction of San Diego County (Iranpour, 2019). In the process of gathering evidence, Blake was found to have been found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm in 1992, an incident that was concurrent with the court’s sentence in 1990.
The families of the three victims in the Church’s Chicken shooting incident are still awaiting justice. California District Attorney Jalyn Wang justified the rationale as to why Blake should pay $5 million bail rather than warranting a death sentence. The attorney justified the bail and agreed that Blake's actions posed an enormous danger to the community. A piece of evidence suggests that Blake had suffered a serious stroke that contributed to his mental instability. Therefore, the cognitive imbalance could have been responsible for his decision to shoot the trio. Collins gave the authorities a piece of evidence, stating that he had seen Blake using PCP on several occasions. Therefore, although these pieces of evidence justify that Blake could have been responsible for killing Ibanez, the judge had not warranted a death sentence.
References
Figueroa, T., & Repard, P. (2020). Public Safety: Criminal court cases to keep an eye on in 2020. The San Diego Union-Tribune . The San Diego Union-Tribune. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-01-02/criminal-court-cases-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-2020
Iranpour, N. (2019, November 25). El Cajon man appears in court for murder, attempted murder charges in Church's Chicken shooting. https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/crime/churchs-chicken-appears-in-court/509-abdfc842-f85a-48c1-b577-d3e765b73b0f
Self, Z. (2019, November 27). Suspect in deadly Church's Chicken shooting pleads not guilty. San Diego News. Scripps Media, Inc. https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/suspect-in-deadly-churchs-chicken-shooting-due-in-court
