By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

Jan. 7, 2003

OAKLAND —Calling a deputy sheriff a hero and the men accused of killing him "thugs," an Alameda County prosecutor said Monday that John Paul Monego died outside a Dublin restaurant for nothing more than "pure, simple greed."

During closing arguments in the trial of Reuben Eliceo Vasquez, Miguel Galindo Sifuentesand Hai Minh Le, deputy district attorney Jon Goodfellow urged jurors to convict the Central Valley men.

"This wasn't some lark, some joke," he said. "We know what the motive was: pure, simple greed." All three had stormed into the Outback Steakhouse the night of Dec. 11, 1998, he said. They intended to rob the restaurant and terrorized customers while doing so, Goodfellow said.

And while just one man -- the 27-year-old Vasquez -- is accused of firing the shots that killed Monego, all should be held responsible for the Brentwood father's death, he said. "You will find that these defendants are guilty of first-degree murder," he told jurors. "It's as if they all pulled the trigger."

Vasquez, Sifuentes and Le each face a single murder count, as well as special circumstances that, if upheld, could bring a death sentence.

Under the law, the men can be held responsible for Monego's death -- even if it was not intentional -- if the prosecutor can prove the trio specifically went to rob the restaurant. If Sifuentes and Le even helped during the robbery, Goodfellow told jurors, they should be found guilty of killing the veteran deputy.

"They knew, or reasonably should have known, that something like this was going to happen," Goodfellow said during his daylong presentation in a courtroom packed with both defense and prosecution supporters.

Authorities have said Vasquez was armed with a 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun that had been stolen from a truck near his Modesto apartment. Sifuentes and Le, Goodfellow said, were armed with Crossman pellet guns.

They waved their weapons and ordered people around, Goodfellow said. They beat customers and forced the captives into a walk-in food locker, he said.

The bottom line, Goodfellow told the jury, was that all three men were major participants and acted with reckless disregard for human life that night.

"They were trying to control this crowd," he said. "I don't think there was a person there who wasn't concerned about their personal safety or their life."

Defense attorneys will give their closing arguments later this week. A judge's gag order has barred them from talking publicly about the case.