Death row inmate asks Fresno County Court for new sentence

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Nearly 30 years after being sentenced to death, Jerry Rodriguez was back in a Fresno County courtroom on Tuesday. He is asking the judge for a new sentence.

"Provide to me a list of the things they believe I can and should consider," Judge Heather Mardel Jones said.

In 1995, a jury convicted Rodriguez of robbing and killing teenagers AJ and Danny Hernandez.

They had paid Rodriguez $2,000 for custom rims from his Visalia tire shop.

But instead of delivering those rims, investigators discovered Rodriguez kept the money, then hired a hitman to kill the cousins at an orchard near Kingsburg.

"Both of them had huge personalities," family member Richie Hernandez told Action News earlier this month. "Joyful, funny pranksters that really loved their trucks."

At 21 years old, Rodriguez was sentenced to death.

Now, at 51, he is asking the judge to take him off death row.

Since Rodriguez hired a hitman and did not pull the trigger himself, a 2018 law could protect him if he was not a "major participant" in the crime.

It is an argument Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp tells Action News has no merit.

"He was the catalyst. He was the one who set it up. He is the one who made the payment," Smittcamp said. "He provided an incentive for the murderer to do the murders. And so, how you could argue that he's not a principal participant is beyond me."

What happens is now up to Judge Jones. On Tuesday, she was supposed to hear from a key witness: the hitman hired to kill the boys.

Stanley Michael Skala has previously pleaded guilty to murder and admitted guilt decades ago.

But on Tuesday, he refused to answer questions.

"I have nothing to say," Skala said. "I have nothing to say."

The hearing will resume on Wednesday morning as the court decides how to proceed with Skala.

It all comes as dozens of family members on both sides have to relive the events of 30 years ago.

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