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When Kris (ChevyGurly ) first posted this awhile back alot of you seemed to show some intrest. I didn't see an update from what was in our local paper today on here so I thought I'd update everybody who cares. The following is the article. Alot is probably the same thing you've read before, but for me its sad it makes me stop and think everytime I read it.
A smile spread across Humiyo Wright's face and tears fell down her cheeks when the last guilty verdict was read for three of her 19-year-old son's killers.
D.J. Hunter was tortured and murdered, and his body burned in March 2002. Since then, Wright has sat through two trials -- and a declared mistrial -- and watched while five people were convicted in the slaying of her son.
The second trial ended Wednesday afternoon in Fresno County Superior Court with the murder convictions of Stacey Danielle Dyer, 24; Jesus Lopez, 29; and Daniel Justin Ortega, 26. They could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole during a June 17 hearing.
Wright said the justice system worked; that 12 jurors did their jobs. Her gratitude was tempered, however, by a feeling that no amount of punishment will ease the pain that remains two years after her son's murder.
"I don't feel like it is over; I don't think it ever will be for me," Wright said. "My son didn't deserve what happened to him. It's hard for me to think of what my son went through. "I don't know if there's any justice."
The jury found the first-degree murder happened during robbery, kidnapping and carjacking, making each defendant eligible for life in prison without parole. Dyer, Lopez and Ortega also were convicted of robbery and kidnapping.
Dyer cried silently when the jury's decision was announced. She looked down and raised her right hand to her face.
Lopez and Ortega looked straight ahead. Their faces showed no emotion.
Hunter's customized pickup, which was well-known in the close-knit Fowler community, was carjacked in March 2002.
Lopez drove to Fresno in Hunter's truck with Dyer as his passenger, prosecutor Dennis Peterson said during the trial. Hunter was locked in the pickup's covered bed.
Lopez called his friends and joked about torturing Hunter. After arriving at a Fresno home where Hunter's truck was stripped of its stereo, Ortega said, "We're going to kill him."
Hunter was beaten and a handgun was handed to Dyer before the group drove to a field in Fresno County.
Hunter pleaded for his life but after his captors took him to the field, he was shot three times in the head.
His truck's chrome rims were stolen before the truck was doused with gasoline and burned with his body inside.
In a separate trial, Jose David Romero, 19, and Martin Castro, 18, also were found guilty of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The jury deliberated for a day and a half before returning Wednesday's verdicts for Dyer, Lopes and Ortega.
In the courtroom hallway, Wright hugged lead sheriff's detective Mark Chapman. A crowd of Hunter's friends and family smiled, brushed away tears and embraced.
"I don't think the Wright family will ever recover from the loss of their son, grandson and brother," Chapman said. "It's our job to go out and identify what happened and who did it, and that's exactly what we did."
After winning the conviction, Peterson said of Hunter's family, "They're such a great group. To be able to work on this prosecution and see some scintilla of relief for the family is rewarding. We can never replace D.J., but I hope they're left with some sense of justice being fulfilled."
Donald Jamison Hunter was named after his grandfather, who once was the mayor of Fowler.
He had recently graduated from Fowler High School. He loved basketball and hoped to play at Reedley College, where he had enrolled.
He was considering a career in his family's oil company.
"He was a fine young man in his community, and he didn't deserve what happened to him that night," Chapman said. "Nobody deserves to be murdered, but he was tortured, all because he had a truck."
Hunter shared many traits with his mother. He was quiet, polite, reserved and respectful. Wright showed each of these qualities during the trials.
But more than relive his tragic death, Wright has tried to remember her son's kindness.
"I try to keep him a part of my life still," Wright said. "I just think he'd want me to have some kind of peace."