Global Courant 2023-05-05 03:20:03
A 55-year-old man convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in Riverside County was found dead in his death row cell Wednesday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Medical staff at Salinas Valley State Prison pronounced Micky Ray Cage dead at 7:30 a.m. after he became unresponsive in the cell. The cause of death was unknown pending an investigation by the Monterey County Coroner’s Office. He had been on death row for about 20 years.
For the record:
3:42 pm May 4, 2023An earlier version of this article stated that Micky Ray Cage was found dead on Monday. His death was discovered on Wednesday.
Micky Ray Cage died this week while incarcerated at Salinas Valley State Prison.
(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
In 2003, Cage was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.
According to court documentsCage’s estranged wife, Claribel Burgos, had brought their children to Puerto Rico in 1998 to escape physical and emotional abuse. Cage, upset by the move, began threatening her family, the documents say.
On November 9 of that year, Cage hid a shotgun in a basket full of laundry and confronted his mother-in-law Brunilda Montanez, 50, at her Moreno Valley home, according to court documents.
Montanez opened the door and was shot and killed, according to court reports. Cage then went upstairs and fatally shot his brother-in-law David Burgos, 16, in the chest, according to the documents.
Cage appealed the conviction, but it was upheld by the California Supreme Court in 2015. He has since been held in death row custody, but was not executed due to Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019 moratorium on executions.
According to CDCR data, there are currently 664 people on death row. The Salinas Valley State Penitentiary holds 2,892 men on minimum and maximum detention.
