LA County murderer accrues 3 additional life sentences in Kern, causes outburst in court

Apr. 13—Already serving a life term for murder, Joseph Orta expressed his emotions strongly once a Kern County Superior Court judge began sentencing him again to additional decades in prison, prosecutors said Thursday.

Orta chucked a book across the courtroom at Judge John Oglesby, prompting decisive action from Kern County Sheriff's deputies. Orta, while yelling expletives and threatening to attack deputies, was found with a razorblade, the Kern County District Attorney's Office said.

This weapon was identical to a knife used by Orta in another assault while in California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi — just one incident in a string of local stabbing cases Orta has been convicted of recently while serving his original murder sentence.

Defense attorney Gabriel Godinez, who represented Orta at his sentencing hearing Tuesday, did not return a request for comment.

It all started in 2008 when Orta had an affair with his cousin's wife, Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta, while he lived with her and his cousin. Ponce-Orta, 22, was found in a van outside a Pomona courthouse in 2008 with her jugular vein and carotid artery slit. Orta was sentenced to 25 years to life, plus six years for first-degree murder, according to Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kinzel, spokesman for the DA's office.

While Orta served time for this murder in Kern County, he accrued three other convictions. He was getting sentenced for two of these crimes when Tuesday's attack happened, the DA's office wrote in a news release.

In March 2017, Orta sliced another inmate's face and cheek while serving time for the 2008 murder at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, the DA's Office said. Using a razor blade attached to a tongue depressor, Orta caused serious injuries and permanent scarring on the face of the victim, who was standing in line to get medication.

Orta testified he attacked this man because the victim was a homosexual and tried to hit on him in the past, the DA's office wrote.

Last month, a Kern County jury convicted Orta of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a weapon by an inmate.

Orta walked up to a victim and stabbed him in the neck while standing behind him in October 2019. Prison staff at Kern Valley State Prison found a second razor-blade weapon hidden in his shoe, according to the DA's Office.

Orta was again convicted by a Kern County jury last month on charges such as attempted murder and assault.

On Tuesday, Oglesby began sentencing Orta for these two cases. These two local incidents, along with the 2008 murder, add up to four consecutive life sentences, plus an additional 23 years, according to the DA's Office.

But Orta wasn't done. Just last year in February, Orta sprinted out of his cell at Kern Valley State Prison and stabbed another victim in the neck, the DA's Office wrote.

Jurors convicted Orta of two assault charges while acquitting him of a third for this incident.

The inmate now faces a fifth life sentence at his sentencing hearing scheduled for April 26, the DA's Office said.

"Some people are so persistently violent that preventing their release from custody must be assured by all legal means," Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said in a statement.

"Orta is a convicted killer who has only increased his acts of violence while in state prison, and securing multiple, consecutive life-sentences is the best and only means to ensure he cannot endanger communities again."

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.