A Los Angeles County jury found Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar legally sane on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in the ambush killing of Sheriff's Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer.

Salazar, 32, of Palmdale faces life in state prison without the possibility of parole. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1 in Department 101 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

The sanity verdict followed Salazar's Aug. 24 conviction on first-degree murder charges. Jurors in the guilt phase deliberated about two hours before returning that verdict, according to Spectrum News. Special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle were all found true, along with an allegation that Salazar personally used and discharged a .22-caliber revolver.

During the sanity phase, the defense presented three mental health professionals who had examined Salazar and concluded he was legally insane at the time of the killing, Spectrum News reported. The jury rejected that defense. Had jurors agreed, Salazar would have been confined to a state hospital rather than prison. No public response from defense attorney George Rosenstock appeared in the record as of publication.

Prosecutors pointed to evidence that Salazar's actions were deliberate. In surreptitiously recorded jailhouse conversations, Salazar told undercover operatives he had wanted to kill a police officer for years. He described following officers, parking and waiting, and playing music to prepare himself. He also told the operatives he attended a candlelight vigil at the Palmdale Sheriff's Station the night after the killing.

Clinkunbroomer, 30, was on duty on Sept. 16, 2023, when Salazar followed him from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Palmdale Station. Less than a block away, Salazar ambushed the deputy, shooting him in the back of the head while Clinkunbroomer sat in a marked patrol SUV. Clinkunbroomer was rushed to Antelope Valley Medical Center and pronounced dead that night. He had become engaged four days before he was killed.

Salazar was arrested two days later following a standoff at his Palmdale home.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the verdict ensures "the defendant must be held accountable for the violence that took Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer's life." Sheriff Robert Luna called the ruling "an important measure of accountability." Both joined Clinkunbroomer's parents in a packed courtroom for the Aug. 24 guilty verdict.

Deputy District Attorneys Michael Blake and David Ayvazian of the Crimes Against Peace Officers Division prosecuted the case. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) investigated.