Prosecutors want death for deputy's killing

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Marco Antonio Topete, the Arbuckle man accused of murdering a Yolo County sheriff's deputy.

Jeff W. Reisig, the Yolo County district attorney, filed the announcement Tuesday in Superior Court. The court released the statement Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Topete was arrested the morning after the June 15 shooting in Dunnigan that killed Deputy Jose Antonio (Tony) Diaz. The slaying followed a high-speed pursuit of Topete's car up Interstate 5 and onto rural roads as law enforcement officers responded to reports of a suspected drunken driver.

Topete was indicted Aug. 12 on charges of murder and six other counts, including felony evasion of officers, gang membership and child endangerment. The California Highway Patrol says he abandoned his car and left his infant daughter behind after Diaz was shot.

He's been held without bail in Sacramento County jail.

If a jury convicts Topete of murder, jurors must unanimously agree to sentence him to death. Otherwise, he would receive life in prison without the chance of parole.

Before Diaz's death, Topete had accumulated a long criminal history, including nine years in state prison for a shooting. He was paroled in March 2007, then jailed again for 16 days in November after a parole violation.

Diaz, a four-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was the first Yolo County deputy to be shot to death on duty in 65 years.

A status conference on Topete's case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.