By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–A 55-year-old man, convicted by a jury of first-degree murder with special circumstances, was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 70 years to life for the 2018 murder of Ghedeer “Tony” Radda, 49, at Bottom Price Flooring in East Village.
A jury found Kevin Cartwright guilty of murder, two robberies, burglary, and being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition on June 1. His co-defendant, Lorena Espinoza, 38, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2021 and was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison in January.
“I am grateful to the prosecution team for bringing justice in this grisly murder of a business owner, who was doing his best in life,” San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said. “Although nothing can bring the victim back, I hope his family feels a measure of justice with today’s sentence.”
In October 2018, Cartwright enlisted his romantic interest, Espinoza, to rob the victim’s flooring business. Espinoza went into the building wearing a purple wig and lured the victim into the back of the store. Cartwright then stalked the victim from the front of the store, sneaking up on him, jumping him, and shooting him. He wore a granny mask and gloves to carry out the attack and he stole Radda’s wallet and broke into the cash register.
The two left the store but did not leave behind fingerprints or DNA.
“There was no way to identify either of the defendants except for one detail,” Stephan said. “The City of San Diego had just completed installing 3,200 smart street lamps and the footage captured the defendant taking off the granny mask in front of the street camera. Thanks to these cameras, we were able to identify, prosecute and convict these killers.”
