Erick Daniel Gonzalez, 33, of Merced was convicted for the January 27, 2009, murder of 26-year-old Dinuba resident Roberto Ceballos Alvarez. The evidence included testimony by a witness who returned with the victim from a trip to southern California and found the defendant and two others in the process of burglarizing their home. The witness saw the shooting of the victim by the defendant who had been living with victim’s sister.

Deputies from the Tulare County Sheriff’s office located and arrested the defendant at his residence in Merced the following day. Later, through a search of phone records, it was discovered that the Defendant had been to Tulare County on the date of the murder making calls from his cell phone near the residence both prior to, and immediately following the murder.

A jury of seven men and five women began deliberations late in the afternoon on November 16, 2009, finding the defendant guilty of first degree murder, a special circumstance of murder during the course of a burglary and the personal use of a firearm, and guilty of a second count of burglary about 3:00 p.m. on November 17, 2009. The defendant was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (plus 25-to-Life for the personal use of a firearm) on December 17, 2009, in Department 5, Judge Kalashian presiding.

The case was investigated by the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department Detective Cesar Fernandez, with assistance from the Tulare County District Attorney’s Investigative Division and the Los Angeles Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Supervising District Attorney, David Alavezos.

Contact Person: Shani Jenkins, Assistant District Attorney (559) 733-6411.