Former Avon Grove High student will spend 40 to 80 years behind bars
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Graffiti often signals the presence of rival gangs who want to mark their territory, according to police.
The seventh of 12 defendants charged in a 2011 Avondale double homicide fueled by gang rancor was sentenced Wednesday in Chester County Court.
James L. Jones, 21, of West Grove, will spend 40 to 80 years in prison followed by 10 years’ probation for his role in a melee that interrupted a birthday bonfire party and left two men bleeding from fatal stab wounds. Police said Cuahuctemoc “Temo” Bedolla, 27, and Jose “Little” Rodriguez, 29, both of West Grove, were killed Dec. 3, 2011, during a preplanned attack.
Police said a group of Sur 13s, also known as Surenos, arrived at a party in the 1600 block of Baltimore Pike in New Garden Township and were asked to leave because members of the Vikings, a rival gang, were in attendance.
The Sur 13s complied but returned with reinforcements about an hour and a half later, witnesses testified, describing a chaotic scene as weapon-wielding Sur 13s and an associate confronted their nemeses, and terrified partygoers scattered.
In an unusual hybrid plea agreement, Jones, a former Avon Grove High student who was represented by Assistant Public Defenders Meredith Daniels Copeland and P.J. Redmond, admitted to wielding the knife that killed Bedolla. He agreed to a sentence of 20 to 40 years, but he denied a direct role in Rodriguez’s death, leaving that penalty to the discretion of Chester County Senior Judge Ronald C. Nagle.
In a sentencing memorandum, the defense attorneys urged the judge to consider Jones’ horrific childhood – which reportedly included emotional, physical and sexual abuse by his biological mother – and his potential for rehabilitation in fashioning the second penalty. They also pointed out that Jones was the only defendant not affiliated with a gang.
At the time of the homicides, Jones’ stepmother had kicked him out of his house, and he was living with Stephen Andrew Daddezio, one of his co-defendants, the defense attorneys wrote. They said Jones wanted to stay home that night, but ultimately “went with the flow out of a desire to please Andrew.”
Requesting a 46- to 92-year prison sentence, Assistant District Attorneys Andrea Cardamone and Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe cited the brutality of the crimes. They said Bedolla bled to death in the back of a car as a friend struggled to get him help while Rodriguez died alone in the brush behind some chicken coops after attempting to escape his assailants.
While the prosecutors acknowledged that the defendant’s upbringing was not his fault, they said it left him troubled and violent. “Quite simply, he is someone the court has a duty to sequester from society,” they wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
Besides Jones and Daddezio, the defendants, who ranged in age from 16 to 20 at the time, are Manuel “Mongo” Mora of Kennett Square, Junior Lopez of Avondale, Jorge L. “Borrega” Ramirez of Avondale, Dominick Daddezio of West Grove, Orlando V. “Pitufo” Diaz of West Grove, Cristian Eumana of Greenville, De., Kenneth Fitzsimons of West Grove, Fabian “Macaco” Cortez of Kennett Square, Rafael “Rafa” Lopez of West Grove, and Edwin “Barrill” Romero of Kennett Square.
Cardamone said all 12 defendants have pleaded guilty, and seven have been sentenced. The remaining five – Ramirez, Cortez, Fitzsimons, Junior Lopez and Rafael Lopez – will be sentenced on Nov. 26, she said.
