A jury on Tuesday, Nov. 8, recommended capital punishment for a convicted felon who killed his wife and 5-year-old daughter and raped and slashed his ex-girlfriend during back-to-back attacks in East Hemet.

After deliberating less than a day, a Murrieta jury unanimously decided that Johnny Lopez be sentenced to death for the 2013 slayings of 36-year-old Joanna Angel Barrientos Lopez and his daughter, Mia.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Monterosso scheduled formal sentencing for Jan. 13 at the Southwest Justice Center.

Related: Guilty verdict in deaths of wife, daughter, rape of ex-girlfriend

The defense has already filed a motion for a sentence reduction to life without the possibility of parole. Monterosso has the authority to go against the jury’s recommendation, but such instances are rare.

The defendant was found guilty Oct. 19 of two counts of first-degree murder, along with one count each of attempted murder, forcible rape, burglary and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation that Lopez took multiple lives in the same crime.

The same panel weighed evidence and arguments in his penalty trial, which began immediately after the guilt phase.

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Lopez was arrested on Nov. 9, 2013, shortly after the attacks at two separate locations in the unincorporated community of East Hemet.

According to court documents, the defendant confessed to sheriff’s detectives that he had carried out the killings to get rid of his “baggage” — an apparent reference to the victims.

Investigators said that on the night of Nov. 9, Lopez fatally shot his daughter, whom he’d sired in a prior relationship, then turned the gun on his wife, who walked into the room after hearing the gunfire.

Both victims were shot twice in the head with a 9mm pistol. They were later discovered in the living room of Lopez’s single-story house in the 26000 block of Girard Street.

After the shootings, the defendant drove to his ex-girlfriend’s home in the at 41000 block of Sunset Lane, less than a mile away, and forced his way inside via a window. Carrying an axe and knife that he’d stolen from a nearby property, he subdued the 30-year-old victim, whose identity was not released, and sexually assaulted her, according to the prosecution.

“According to his confession, he used the knife to slit her throat,” Deputy District Attorney Burke Strunsky told City News Service in 2014.

When Lopez walked out of the house with blood on his hands, a neighbor called 911, and a sheriff’s deputy arrived moments later.

The deputy saw Lopez standing outside the victim’s residence with blood on his clothes and approached him, at which point the defendant bolted.

The lawman deployed pepper spray to stop Lopez, who put up a fight, culminating in the deputy striking him with his baton, prompting the convicted felon to surrender according to investigators.

The ex-girlfriend underwent surgery and ultimately recovered.

Lopez has prior felony convictions for illegal possession of controlled substances and recklessly discharging a firearm.