Louis Mitchell Jr., who grinned a month ago when jurors recommended he receive the death penalty, was not beaming during his sentencing Wednesday.

The convicted murderer stared forward, stone-faced and silent as a judge sentenced him to death, rather than life in prison.

"The weight of the evidence overwhelmingly supports the jury's verdict," San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Brian McCarville said.

The judge said Mitchell's victims were "particularly vulnerable" at the time they were shot and killed.

The 36-year-old Rialto man, who tested positive for PCP the day he was arrested, may have also been under the influence of drugs the day before when he went on a shooting rampage in Colton and San Bernardino.

But evidence of that was "tenuous at best," McCarville said.

McCarville sentenced Mitchell to death for the Aug. 8, 2005, murders of Mario Lopez, 59, and Patrick Mawikere, 20, at the California Auto Specialists auto dealership in Colton, where the two worked. He also imposed a death sentence for the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Susano Torres at a San Bernardino apartment complex.

Mitchell received life with the possibility of parole for the nonfatal shootings of Juan Bizzotto and Jerry Payan, who were wounded

at the car dealership, and Torres' 19-year-old brother, Armando Torres. He received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for use of a firearm on each count.

Mitchell was arrested the day after the shootings on 19th Street in San Bernardino after threatening three people with a gun.

Payan, 37, said he and Bizzotto have undergone numerous surgeries and continue to receive therapy. Payan, who worked as a sales manager at the dealership, suffered a bullet wound to his arm and cuts to his legs from smashing through the glass of the business.

But the mental wounds will likely take longer to heal, Payan said.

Bizzotto is still traumatized because he watched all his colleagues get shot, he said.

"The best I can do is just talk to him all the time," Payan said. "We're going to stay close to each other. He lives down the street from me. We're going to pull through this somehow."

Mitchell's relatives and members of the victims' families were among about 15 people scattered throughout the courtroom Wednesday.

The judge's ruling generated no verbal reaction from the audience after McCarville warned relatives that the outbursts heard during the jury's verdict were unacceptable.

Outside the courtroom, family members embraced and wiped away tears. Lopez's mother declined comment, as did Mitchell's father.

Payan said the judge's decision gave the families a bit of closure.

"This is the end for him," he said. "It's not the end for us."

Contact writer Melissa Pinion-Whitt at (909) 386-3878 or via e-mail at melissa.pinion-whitt@sbsun.com.

BS Ranch Perspective:

I just wanted to write a thanks to those that were able to serve on the Jury. They heard the evidence and well if what they heard was enough to convict this man of Murder then the Evidence was there and they did a good job. My heart and prayers go to the family of the victim, it isn't much for them to get for the loss of a family member, but in today's day and age when you see and read about so many murders that are unsolved, even with all the technology that we have to convict or find the murderer to convict. It is sad and brings a tear to my eye. God bless those that see loss every day, especially in this case. God Bless,

BS Ranch