A Baja California judge found Jesús Gerardo García and two other men guilty in the 2024 killings of three surfers.

Friday's ruling is a guilty verdict on the counts the judge decided. It is not the prison term. The Associated Press reported Judge Raúl Hernández found three men responsible for the April 2024 killings and for armed robbery and armed carjacking, and that sentencing is set for Oct. 16. The BBC reported the prosecution had asked for 150 years for each man. The AP reported the Baja California attorney general's office asked for 210 years each. Those are requests. The number the judge writes down on Oct. 16 is the sentence.

The Associated Press reported that Judge Raúl Hernández in Ensenada ruled Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, that Jesús Gerardo García, alias El Kekas, Irineo Francisco, and Ángel Jesús were responsible for the murders of Callum Robinson, Jake Robinson, and Jack Carter Rhoad. The AP identified the Robinsons as Australian brothers and Rhoad as their American friend, and it withheld full surnames for Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús, rendering each as "N." The BBC named the same three defendants and reported the verdict came Friday in Baja California. The three had been in custody for more than two years and chose to go to trial, the AP reported. A judge's finding of guilt is the verdict on those counts. The term of years is still ahead.

The AP reported the three surfers traveled to Baja California in April 2024 and were reported missing shortly after they reached Punta San Jose, about 80 kilometers, or 50 miles, from Ensenada. Their bodies were found May 3 in a well. The BBC reported they were killed in an apparent botched robbery of their truck in a secluded beach area and that the bodies were later found with gunshot wounds to the head. Courthouse News Service reported prosecutors told the court the men went to the bluff where the surfers were camping, took tires and phones, and shot each of them in the head. The BBC reported the three victims were in their early 30s and that the killings happened barely 36 hours after they crossed into Mexico from the United States. Those are the accounts the court heard, as the outlets reported them. Friday's ruling is what the judge accepted.

The AP reported that García's former partner, Ary Gisell Silva Raya, testified that García confessed to her that he arrived at the foreigners' tent with a 9mm pistol, that they threw belongings to try to stop him, and that one of them begged for his life. The state prosecutor's office said she reached Punta San Jose on April 27, 2024, met the three foreigners, and instigated a companion to rob them, which was carried out the next day, the AP reported. She was sentenced in November 2025 to 20 years after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery with violence and vehicle theft with violence, the AP reported. Courthouse News Service identified her as Ari Gisell and reported she had already been sentenced to 20 years. Her plea and sentence are a separate case. They are not Friday's verdict on the three men.

What remains is the number of years. The BBC reported that during the month-long trial the prosecution sought 150 years in prison for each of the three. The AP reported the attorney general's office requested an exemplary sentence of 210 years for each defendant and that the judge will announce the final sentence on Oct. 16. Debra Robinson told the Ensenada courtroom that the murders had taken "the future we had imagined with them," the BBC reported. Her husband, Martin Robinson, said, "It's hard for a parent to lose a son, and we lost two sons." The BBC reported the parents attended the trial and that Rhoad's family joined by video link. A family's statement in court is part of the hearing. It is not the sentence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.