The Region - News from March 26, 1987

A man who served time in prison for a previous killing was ordered put to death for the 1984 murder of a mother of five. Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge James Jennings upheld a jury’s recommendation that Conrad Jess Zapien, 42, a former Oxnard resident, receive the death penalty for killing Ruby Gonzales at her Lompoc home. The judge’s only other option would have been to send Zapien to prison for life without possibility of parole. A jury convicted Zapien on Jan. 6 of first-degree murder, burglary and attempted robbery and special allegations involving use of a firearm and a knife in the commission of the felonies. In handing down the sentence, Jennings said he was swayed by the fact that Zapien “has killed before and robbed before.” Zapien served prison sentences for manslaughter and robbery convictions in Ventura County, both in the 1970s, court records show.