Jury returns guilty verdict in Santa Cruz Mountains murder

SANTA CRUZ — A jury for the defendant in a 2020 Santa Cruz Mountains homicide returned guilty verdicts on six felony counts Friday.

Albaro Amaral Jr. is scheduled to face sentencing for murder, two counts of attempted murder, carjacking and being a felon in prohibited possession of a firearms and ammunition at an Oct. 15 hearing.

Amaral, 31, offered little reaction Friday as he sat beside his attorney, listening to each count of the verdict read by the court clerk. As the series of guilty verdicts continued, he lightly shook his head several times in the negative.

Friday’s verdict came a little more than a day after jurors began deliberations in the case, involving the June 14, 2020 death of San Jose man Kevin Medina-Lopez. Medina-Lopez was found fatally shot in the back of the head and chest, lying beside residential mailboxes on the side of Laurel Road.

Witnesses testified to evidence that Amaral and Medina-Lopez were members of the same San Jose gang who had spent the afternoon together, riding around Santa Cruz County with two women, before the shooting occurred.

Later, witnesses and attempted murder victims Tanya Marin and Christina Mena were located and called to testify against Amaral.

“Generally speaking, we’re extremely happy that justice was done for Kevin and for the two surviving women who really stood up and were a big part of why justice was done for him,” said prosecuting Assistant Attorney Conor McCormick after the hearing.

The afternoon verdict closed a six-week trial featuring nearly three weeks of testimony and argument. A separate hearing addressing Amaral’s previous recorded felony strikes will occur before his sentencing.