SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Mexican immigrant in the country illegally pleaded guilty under a deal with prosecutors to killing a Fiji-born California police officer in a case that President Donald Trump used to bolster his call for tougher border security.
Paulo Virgen Mendoza in an emotional hearing Thursday admitted fatally shooting Cpl. Ronil Singh of the tiny Newman Police Department during a traffic stop early the day after Christmas in 2018.
Paulo Virgen Mendoza was found in Lamont. Kern County Sheriff's Deputies and SWAT surrounded and arrested him.
He pleaded guilty to murder under a deal with Stanislaus County prosecutors that will spare him the death penalty.
The district attorney’s office had said in May it would seek his execution if he was convicted.
