Man who murdered Dave Navarro’s mother has life sentence appeal rejected

The man who murdered rocker Dave Navarro’s mother in 1983 has had his life sentence upheld after California court officials rejected his appeal. John Riccardi became a fugitive after shooting and killing his girlfriend, Connie Hopkins Navarro, and her best friend Susan Marshall Jory, until he was captured in 1991.
He was convicted of the murders in 1994 and sentenced to be executed. He spent 18 years on Death Row before officials at the California Supreme Court reversed his sentence in 2012, ruling that Riccardi, then 76, had been denied a fair trial.
He was ordered to spend life behind bars without parole when he was re-sentenced last year (13).
Riccardi challenged the decision in the 2nd District Court of Appeal, but authorities dismissed the case and upheld the punishment on Thursday (03Jul14).
Jane’s Addiction guitarist Navarro, who was just 15 when the murder happened, appeared on America’s Most Wanted crime show in 2004 and recalled the night his mother was killed, revealing he was supposed to stay with her but chose to spend more time with his father.
Navarro is convinced he would have been killed by Riccardi if he had visited his mother as planned.