Susan Louise Jordan

Riverside County prosecutors said today that with a statewide injunction on executions lifted, a man who raped and killed a Riverside teen is expected to be put to death by lethal injection next week.

Albert Greenwood Brown was convicted in January 1982 of the rape and murder of 15-year-old Susan Louise Jordan. He is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 29 at San Quentin State Prison, barring intervention by a federal judge.

It would be the first execution in California in nearly five years.

A state appeals court in San Francisco on Monday overturned a moratorium on executions put in place in 2006, when a Marin County Superior Court judge ruled that the standard protocol for lethal injections allowed for excruciating pain before death.

The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation has gone forward with preparations for the execution, which is on schedule, according to a spokeswoman for the state agency.

However, it could be delayed depending on what happens Friday, when a U.S. District Court judge is expected to rule on motions by Brown’s attorney for a delay or stay of the execution.

Brown has also asked Schwarzenegger for clemency based on claims that jurors in his trial weren’t provided with substantial mitigating information.

District Attorney Rod Pacheco opposes any further delays.

“It is time for Susan Jordan’s loved ones to finally get the justice they’ve waited 30 years to see,” he said. “This is a murderer who never claimed innocence and who has now exhausted all his appellate rights in an extremely horrific case. There is no reason for his execution to be further delayed.”
On Oct. 28, 1980, Brown grabbed Jordan as she was walking to school on Victoria Avenue in Riverside. The defendant dragged the teen into an orange grove, where he stripped her of her clothing, sexually assaulted her and strangled her with one of her own shoelaces, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Brown called the girl’s mother at home later that day and taunted her, saying, “You will never see your daughter again,” according to Chief Assistant District Attorney Bill Mitchell.

Brown had been previously convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl almost exactly three years earlier. He pleaded guilty to that assault and was sentenced to four years in state prison, but was paroled after barely serving half his term. He murdered Susan four months later.

MURDERER:

Caden Rodgers

 Man Allegedly Threw Child Across Room While Drunk And High

Police say a Colorado man fatally injured his girlfriend's 2-year-old son by throwing him across a bedroom when he was drunk and high and then chose not to call 911 because he was afraid of getting in trouble.

Theodore Madrid, 30, was charged with first-degree murder this week after Caden Rodgers died in a hospital the day after sustaining severe brain trauma while Madrid was "wrestling" with him, according to an Aurora Police Department arrest warrant affidavit.

Caden's mother Ashley Rodgers called police around 12:30 am on January 5 to report that she had returned home from work and found her son unconscious. When officers arrived, they saw the child bleeding from the back of his head.

A responding officer questioned Madrid about what happened, and he reportedly claimed that they had wrestled for about an hour until Caden's head struck an unknown object near the bed when he tackled him around 11 pm. The affidavit also states that he said at one point he had "body slammed" the boy, which he described as picking him up and throwing him onto the bed.

Madrid also allegedly told the officer that he had used marijuana and drank a beer and a couple of shots earlier in the night. His breath alcohol level was measured at .177. Based on the child's injury, Madrid's admission of involvement and his intoxication, he was then taken into custody on child abuse charges.

According to the affidavit, another officer observed a chipped wood bed frame, blood residue on the mattress frame, wet, bloody rags and towels in the bedroom and blood spots on the floors and walls.

In an interview with police, Ashley Rodgers said she never saw Madrid exhibit any violence toward Caden, but she did say that he told her they were wrestling and it had gotten "kinda rough" when she called home around 9:30 that night, the affidavit states.

After his arrest, Madrid allegedly waived his Miranda rights and agreed to speak to officers about what happened. The affidavit says that he told them he and Caden were wrestling and playing around until it seemed Caden did not want to play anymore. At that point, according to the document, Madrid admitted that out of frustration he threw the boy over his shoulder. He said that he did not see Caden hit the floor or bed, but he then saw him facedown on the floor with a cut on his head.

The document states that Madrid initially claimed the injury occurred only 15-20 minutes before Caden's mother arrived home, but he eventually admitted that it could have been closer to 10:30 pm. He allegedly said that he tried to clean up the blood but was afraid to call 911 for help.

After Caden died in the hospital, charges against Madrid were upgraded to one count of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse resulting in death.

Madrid is being held without bond at Arapahoe County Jail. He has been assigned a public defender and is scheduled to appear in court again on January 31.

MURDERER: