By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

Feb. 20, 2003

OAKLAND —Survivors of a deputy sheriff shot dead outside a Dublin steakhouse told an Alameda County jury Wednesday that coping with the loss of their son, husband and brother has been punishing.

For the first time since John Paul Monego, 33, was gunned down Dec. 11, 1998, those nearest to him tried to publicly explain the crippling pain they have been through.

They tried to convey the sleepless nights and the endless tears. They worked to show their grief and quantify the devastating loss of a man they described as an all-American boy and a selfless hero.

"He loved to live," John Monego Sr. said of his son. "If anybody wanted to live, he did."

Monego was shot five times as he investigated an emergency call from the Outback Steakhouse. Three robbers had taken over the Regional Street restaurant, stripping another deputy of her gun while keeping her hostage.

Earlier this month, jurors convicted Reuben Eliceo Vasquez, 28, Miguel Galindo Sifuentes, 23, and Hai Minh Le, 24, of first-degree murder for the crime.

All three had faced special circumstances making them eligible for a possible death sentence, but jurors decided that only Vasquez, the shooter, should be considered for the death penalty or life in prison.

Sifuentes and Le are expected to be sentenced later this year to at least 25 years to life in prison for their roles in the robbery.

In testifying Wednesday, Monego's parents, wife and sisters delivered evidence that prosecutor Jon Goodfellow believes should garner a death sentence. They looked over pictures of a life cut short, but one that they said was lived to the fullest.

"He was the best of all things," said the victim's widow, Tammy Monego, who is a California Highway Patrol officer. "He was my best friend."

She told jurors of how the couple met at a law enforcement function, their engagement and about their marriage. She said they were still handling the loss of an unborn child when she got the terrible news that night that her husband was dead.

"Every day is a struggle without my husband," she said.

They steered clear, however, of pointing blame at Vasquez, who sat at the defense table with his head down and hands folded. Instead, family members remembered the youngest of Dorothy Monego's three children as a fun-loving, good-natured cop who would have done just about anything to help just about anyone.

"I want him to be remembered as a hero," Mary Ellen Biesecker said, recalling life with her little brother. "It's almost like someone reached inside of me that night and tore my heart apart."

Defense attorney William Cole will begin presenting evidence Monday to fight a possible death sentence. Closing arguments in the penalty phase could begin as early as Wednesday.