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California Death Row Inmate Dies After Being Found Unresponsive In Cell

SAN QUENTIN (CBS13) - An inmate on California's death row was found unresponsive and later died, corrections officials say.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says convicted murderer Joseph A. Perez Jr. was found unresponsive in his San Quention State Prison cell Tuesday a little after 9 p.m.

First aid was started immediately when he was found, but Perez was pronounced dead less than a half hour later.

Exactly what caused Perez' death is still being investigated.

Perez had been on death row since 2002. He was convicted in the 1998 home invasion robbery turned murder of 46-year-old Lafayette woman Janet Daher.

The last California death row inmate to be executed happened in 2006. Currently, according to corrections officials, there are 740 offenders on California death row.

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