PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Caroline Park, Homicide Unit
The Honorable Michael Kenny sentenced Rodney Bruno to 86 years to life in prison. On October 10, 2017, a jury convicted Bruno for the first-degree murder of Virgil Torres. The jury also found that Bruno used a deadly weapon in the course of the murder. Bruno was sentenced under the three strikes law and the court found that Bruno had previously been convicted of a 1980 strike conviction for voluntary manslaughter and a 2008 strike conviction for robbery.
On October 2, 2016, Rodney Bruno was upset with Virgil Torres. Bruno and Mr. Torres were at a home in the Tahoe Park area when they began to argue. The argument quickly escalated into a physical fight. Bruno stabbed Torres multiple times in the course of the altercation. Torres died as a result of those stab wounds.
