Roger Tindell, the Yucca Valley man accused of murdering two people in Nevada, then shooting Jonathan Lakes of Yucca Valley in the head, and who posted a live video on Facebook as he was being pursued by—and shooting at—Morongo Basin sheriff’s deputies, was sentenced today in Joshua Tree Superior Court to 35 years to life in prison. Reporter Mike Lipsitz was in the courtroom and at that hearing…
Judge Rodney Cortez handed down the sentence following victim impact statements from Lakes’ family. Earlier this month Tindell, 38, pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder under an agreement with the district attorney’s office. Tindell will now be extradited to Nevada where he faces the Death Penalty for bludgeoning two people to death in their Henderson home in October 2018. A few days after the double-murder, Tindell drove to a home in the 7400 block of Elk Trail in Yucca Valley where he shot Jonathan Lakes in the head. With his girlfriend in the car, he fled westbound on the highway shooting at pursuing Sheriff’s deputies. The live-streamed chase ended when Tindell crashed into a Sheriff’s patrol car. Lakes’ lost one eye, cannot stand, walk, speak well or feed himself as a result of the shooting. The Lakes family addressed Tindell in the court expressing the toll that the crime has taken on their family and lamenting the senselessness of the shooting, asking Tindell why. In his remarks Judge Cortez assured the family that they would find a way to go on with their lives even though they would be unlikely to ever have an explanation or the “why” of this crime.
