70-year-old man with Western Washington murder conviction found guilty of murder in Spokane

A 70-year-old received his second murder conviction after a Spokane County jury found him guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder stemming from an Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood shooting in 2022.

Duarte Cordero shot and killed Joseph V. Cortez Aug. 21, 2022, according to court documents.

Police officers responded to the shooting that night in the area of 1309 W. Shannon Ave., and found Cortez with a gunshot wound next door, court records show. Cortez was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and died at the hospital about 30 minutes after the shooting was reported.

As police arrived to the shooting, a woman yelled something similar to, “He has a gun. He shot my friend,” police said in documents.

Cortez’s girlfriend told police an intoxicated Cordero showed up at the Shannon Avenue address earlier that day.

She said Cordero, who she said wants to date her, slapped her in the face, and the homeowner, a different woman, told Cordero to leave. As Cordero left, he said, “You just watch, you just watch, you will see,” Cortez’s girlfriend told police.

Cortez’s girlfriend said in documents she was inside the Shannon Avenue home later that night when she heard about three gunshots outside. She ran to the back door where the sounds came from, and a woman ran in through the door yelling, “Puerto Rico has a gun” and “he shot Joey.”

Cordero’s street name is “Puerto Rico,” according to Cortez’s girlfriend.

Police said Cordero was covered in shrubs and yard debris when they detained him, documents say.

He told police he is friends with a woman who lives at the Shannon home and was on his way to the house when he was detained.

He denied knowing Cortez, having a gun or being involved in the shooting. He said he served 31 years in prison for shooting someone in the past.

Detectives found a large blood stain and items, including a drug pipe, flashlights and gloves, dropped outside the Shannon home where the shooting happened, police said in documents.

Police did not find fired bullet casings at the scene, but a police dog found a pile of nine unfired .32 caliber cartridges against a fence two houses from the Shannon Avenue home.

Police discovered video of a man matching Cordero’s description behind a nearby Shannon Avenue home appearing to discard something in the alley. There, police found a pair of gloves, a .32 caliber revolver and 36 more unfired rounds of .32 caliber ammunition, according to court records.

Spokane County deputy prosecutor Dale Nagy said Cordero has been in the Spokane County Jail since his August 2022 arrest.

Cordero was convicted in Pierce County in 1990 in the killing of Primitivo Rodrigues, a reputed gang leader, and attempting to kill Floyd Smith Jr. on Sept. 5, 1989, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.

Cordero shot Rodrigues twice in a Tacoma apartment at point-blank range, the News Tribune reported. About 15 minutes later, he shot Smith six times behind a building. At Cordero’s trial, Smith identified Cordero as the man who shot him. Cordero denied at his sentencing that he was the shooter, but the judge responded that the evidence was strong that he killed Rodrigues to establish his “prominence” in the drug trade.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Dale Nagy said the jury deliberated for a little over five hours Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before reaching the guilty verdict.

Cordero is scheduled to be sentenced June 28 by Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel.