Man who shot 2 teens to death inside California theater ruled sane; will be sentenced to prison

A man who shot and killed two teenagers inside a Corona movie theater more than two years ago was ruled sane Tuesday by a judge after a weeklong trial and will be sentenced in February to state prison for his crimes.

Joseph Jimenez Jr., 22, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Had he been found insane, he would have been placed in a state mental hospital.

Jimenez, who said months ago in a jailhouse interview with Southern California News Group that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, testified that he had not been taking his medications and had subsequently been tormented by voices in his head that threatened to harm him. The only way to save himself, Jimenez said, was to kill the teens.

During testimony in his sanity trial, which ended Tuesday, Jimenez said the voices came from “Abigail” and an unnamed companion while he was in the Regal Edwards cinema at the Crossings at Corona on July 26, 2021, watching “The Forever Purge” with three friends.

The voices, Jimenez testified, said “We’re going to get you guys” and were coming from several rows in front of him where Corona High School graduate Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Mater Dei High School graduate Anthony Barajas, 19, sat in Row F of Theater No. 15.

Jimenez went to his car and retrieved a bag containing a gun. As the credits rolled, he snuck up behind the teens and fired.

Goodrich died immediately and Barajas died on July 31.

Superior Court Judge Timothy J. Hollenhorst said the defense was required to prove that Jimenez was incapable of knowing the nature of his act and of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the offense.

“There is no question that the defendant suffers from schizophrenia. … It is also clear to this court that the defendant was not treating his mental health issues appropriately by not regularly taking his medication,” Hollenhorst said.

The judge said Jimenez stealing Goodrich’s wallet after the shooting influenced his ruling, as did the “normal interaction” of Jimenez asking a female concession worker for her phone number before the movie, that he warned his friends about the imminent shooting, that he ran out an emergency exit afterward and that he did not immediately tell Corona police about the voices.

Family members of Goodrich, Barajas and Jimenez declined to comment on the ruling.

“This is the saddest case I’ve ever seen,” defense attorney Charles Kenyon told Hollenhorst before the ruling while choking up. “God forbid (Jimenez) is ever restored to his sanity. Then he will know the horrors he has wrought.”

Afterward, Kenyon said he was disappointed with the ruling but said he couldn’t fault Hollenhorst given the evidence.

“I had no choice but to put (Jimenez) up on the stand and the reality is, I’m putting up a severely mentally ill person up on the stand. I don’t think Joseph told a lie, in his mind, but the reality is that he hurt his own case.”

Kenyon had posed two questions to Hollenhorst during his closing argument: But for schizophrenia, would we be here? And was this a rational crime with a motive and intent or truly senseless violence?

Kenyon answered no to the first question and said this was an irrational crime with no motive.

“He’s not the person who was described by his sister (during testimony) in such a loving way,” Kenyon told the judge.

He noted that Jimenez appeared rational and articulate while medicated during his testimony, but “This masks to some degree who he was the night in question.”

That person the night of the shooting, Kenyon said, was insane. Jimenez did understand the nature of his actions, but he was so overcome by his mental deficiencies that the moral implications of the shootings escaped him, Kenyon said.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham began his closing argument by answering Kenyon’s two questions himself. He said when Jimenez was hospitalized for mental illness several times before the shooting, he was told each time to take his medicine and not to misuse drugs. Yet he ran out of medicine, smoked marijuana and drank alcohol.

“He’s been told ‘You cannot do this,’ but he does,” Beecham said.

Beecham said 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, fleeing the theater through the emergency exit, sprinting to his car and running stop signs to make his getaway, Beecham said.

“Why would he shoot unarmed victims based on threats? He didn’t have to shoot these victims,” Beecham said while projecting photos of Goodrich and Barajas on a screen. “He was sane.”

Beecham also said Jimenez’s testimony changed under cross-examination.

“Let’s take all his statements and throw them in the trash,” Beecham told Hollenhorst. “Without his statements, what are you left with?”

Jimenez previously had pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and not guilty because of insanity. But he withdrew those pleas.

He is scheduled to be sentenced to state prison on Feb. 26.