A man diagnosed with schizophrenia who was ruled by a judge to be sane when he shot two teenagers to death from behind inside a Corona movie theater in 2021 was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Monday, Feb. 26.
Superior Court Judge Timothy J. Hollenhorst imposed the term on Joseph Jimenez Jr., 23, as family members and friends of victims Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Anthony Barajas, 19, watched from the gallery after making victim impact statements.
Officially, Jimenez was also sentenced to another 100 years to life — 25 to life for each murder, and 25 to life for using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
District Attorney Mike Hestrin did not seek the death penalty.
The teens were together on July 26, 2021, at the Regal Edwards cinema at the Crossings at Corona as the credits rolled on the last showing that night of “The Forever Purge.” Goodrich died at the scene and Barajas died July 31 after donating organs.
Goodrich graduated from Corona High. Barajas was a graduate of Mater Dei High in Santa Ana and had hundreds of thousands of followers on his TikTok account.
Jimenez testified in his defense and said he graduated from Santiago High in Corona and was off of his medication that day when he heard voices from “Abigail” and an unidentified, equally non-existent companion saying he was in danger from the teens, as they sat several rows in front of Jimenez and three of his friends.
The six people were the only customers in the theater.
“The voices said my friends and family were going to be killed,” Jimenez said in a jailhouse interview with a Southern California News Group reporter in 2021.
Jimenez said then that he had been haunted by the voices for about eight months. They sometimes threatened to steal his car and television, he said. Jimenez said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia about eight months before the shooting and had been taking medication. But he ran out, Jimenez said, and did not get more pills.
Inside the theater, Jimenez left during the movie and retrieved a bag containing a gun that he said he purchased on OfferUp to protect himself against the threats made by the voices. The three friends, unnerved by Jimenez, left the theater. They were not charged with any crime.
Corona police later linked Jimenez to the shooting by the credit card used by one of the friends to purchase the tickets.
Jimenez pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. He later withdrew those pleas and instead essentially pleaded guilty, asking for a trial by judge to determine whether he was insane when he killed the teens. He would have been sentenced to a mental health facility if Hollenhorst had found him insane.
Defense attorney Charles Kenyon argued that while Jimenez understood the nature of his actions, he was so overcome by his mental deficiencies that the moral implications of the shootings escaped him.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham told Hollenhorst that Jimenez’s actions showed there was no moral dilemma as his testimony had suggested. After the shooting, Jimenez experienced a “consciousness of guilt” after he stole Goodrich’s wallet, running to his car and blowing stop signs to make his getaway, Beecham said.
Hollenhorst, in ruling Jimenez was sane, noted normal interactions with others before the shooting such as asking a cinema concession worker for her phone number.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.