Guilty verdict in murder of Officer Ryan Bonaminio

News headline from the Riverside County District Attorney:

A Riverside County jury convicted a man for the 2010 murder of Riverside police Officer Ryan Bonaminio.
Earl Ellis Green, was found guilty by the eight-man, four-woman jury of one count of first-degree murder. Jurors also found true two special circumstances: the murder of a law enforcement officer and murder to avoid imminent arrest. Green also was found guilty of one count of vehicle theft with a previous conviction for vehicle theft and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Because the jury found Green guilty of first-degree murder and at least one of the special circumstances, the trial now moves to the penalty phase. The same jurors will hear both aggravating and mitigating evidence. They then must decide whether Green should be put to death or be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The penalty phase of the trial will begin before Judge Jean Pfeiffer Leonard at 9:00 a.m., Monday, May 21, 2012, in Dept. 54 at the Hall of Justice, 4100 Main Street.

On the night of Nov. 7, 2010, Officer Bonaminio pulled over a big-rig tractor that was involved in a hit- and-run traffic collision on Highway 60. The officer stopped the vehicle on Market Street in Riverside and the driver, later identified as Green, ran into Fairmount Park. Green ran up an embankment in the park. Green attacked Officer Bonaminio then shot and killed him. The officer’s service weapon was taken by Green. During the subsequent murder investigation, a fingerprint was located inside the stolen big-rig. That fingerprint belongs to Green, who was on parole. Further investigation led law enforcement officers to Green’s location and he was arrested on Nov. 9, 2010, in the parking lot of a Target store on Arlington Avenue in Riverside.

Bonaminio was born and raised in Riverside and graduated from Riverside’s Ramona High School in 2000. He was a four-year veteran of the Riverside Police Department and served as a member of the U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin and Deputy District Attorney John Aki, both of the Homicide Unit.

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