INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – An ex-Riverside County sheriff’s deputy accused of gunning down a man with whom he was at odds because the victim had been involved with the lawman’s then-girlfriend defied all professional boundaries when trying to take the man into custody on a warrant, prosecutors said today, while the defense argued the shooting stemmed from the deputy’s belief his life was in peril.
Oscar Rodriguez, 44, is charged with first-degree murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations for the 2014 slaying of 39-year-old Luis Carlos Morin of Coachella.
At the time, Rodriguez was romantically involved with Diana Perez, the mother of Morin’s two children.
She and the then-deputy originally met in the winter of 2013 when he and other deputies responded to 911 calls from her complaining about Morin, whom she didn’t want around her home. Morin had active warrants for his arrest…