On-duty deputy kills dad of his girlfriend’s kids, gets probation, CA officials say

A 43-year-old man has been granted probation after being accused of killing his girlfriend’s ex, California officials said.

In 2014, on-duty Riverside County deputy Oscar Rodriguez learned Luis Morin’s location from his girlfriend, Diana Perez, according to a Sept. 23 news release by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

Rodriguez went to Morin’s mom’s house in Coachella and saw Morin, the father of Perez’s kids, entering the home after coming back from a birthday dinner with his family, prosecutors said.

Under the illusion that he was serving a felony arrest warrant and without telling other law enforcement, Rodriguez confronted Morin and a struggle began, the district attorney’s office said.

During the fight, Rodriguez fired his duty gun and fatally shot Morin in the left side, prosecutors said.

A jury found Rodriguez guilty of voluntary manslaughter in June, the district attorney’s office said.

Although prosecutors recommended a 10-year prison sentence, Rodriguez was sentenced to one year in jail and 10 years of probation.

McClatchy News reached out to Rodriguez’s lawyer, Mark Frederick, for a statement on Sept. 25 and was awaiting a response. He told KESQ that Rodriguez’s “position was all along that his life was in danger. The jury’s finding supported that, so that was liberating for him in a sense.”

He received credit for 194 days of jail custody time already served, prosecutors said.

“Your honor please, please don’t slap us in the face with probation,” Arianna Mejia, Morin’s sister, said during the trial, according to a Facebook post by the district attorney’s office. “I beg of you, probation will take away everything that my family has been through, my mother, please, do not allow probation, I beg of you. Probation is allowing an ex-police officer or police officers to allow them to commit crime like this.”

McClatchy News reached out to the sheriff’s department on Sept. 25 and was awaiting a response. KABC reported that Rodriguez resigned in 2024, the outlet said.

“This sentence minimizes the gravity of Rodriguez’s actions and the devastating impact on Mr. Morin’s family, while also disregarding the significant effort the jury devoted to reaching a just verdict. We firmly believe a stronger sentence was warranted to reflect the seriousness of this crime and to hold the defendant fully accountable,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Garcia said in the release.

Frederick told KESQ “it’s not an easy job, especially when you have a courtroom full of people who are going to be unhappy.”

Riverside County is about a 60-mile drive east from downtown Los Angeles.

This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 12:57 PM with the headline "On-duty deputy kills dad of his girlfriend’s kids, gets probation, CA officials say."