Community Corner

San Juan Man Guilty in Vigilante Murder of Sex Offender

Robert Eugene Vasquez now faces up to life without parole for killing his neighbor and almost killing another local man.

Originally published 12:10 p.m. June 27, 2013.

A jury has convicted San Juan Capistrano resident Robert Eugene Vasquez of murdering his neighbor in what prosecutors described as a vigilante killing.

He was also convicted of almost killing a second San Juan Capistrano man two days later, as he was hiding out from the police.

Vasquez now faces a possible sentence of life without parole, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. That’s because not only did jurors find Vasquez guilty of the more serious crimes of first degree murder and aggravated assault, they also agreed he lay in wait, used a deadly weapon and caused great bodily injury, all sentencing enhancements.

During the course of the five-day trial, jurors heard gruesome details of Vasquez’s first attack on Bobby Ray Rainwater, Jr., a registered sex offender whom he nearly decapitated. Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh argued that Vasquez’s mom spread rumors that Rainwater’s 1985 offense involved a child – it did not – and that eventually, Vasquez believed he had to protect the residents of the San Juan Mobile Estates.

In his own words, Vasquez called Rainwater a “creeper,” who if not stopped would rape his mom, his girlfriend and maybe him, he said in a videotaped confession.

Deputy Public Defender Michael Perez tried to convince jurors that Vasquez was guilty of the lesser crimes of voluntary manslaughter and simple assault because he was mentally ill.

Vasquez did not take the stand in his defense. Instead, he relied on the testimony of an expert witness, a psychology professor from UCLA.


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