SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 42-year-old man was convicted Could 9 of opening hearth on a pickup filled with six males in a road-rage dispute in Costa Mesa on Thanksgiving Day that killed one and wounded 4.
Lee Queuon Walker was convicted of first-degree homicide and 5 counts of tried homicide. Jurors took about two hours to additionally discover true sentencing enhancements for discharge of a gun inflicting loss of life or nice bodily damage. Walker, who’s scheduled to be sentenced June 16, faces about 200 years to life in jail.
Walker was convicted of fatally capturing 30-year-old Lucas Rivera-Velasco of Costa Mesa on Nov. 24, 2022, at 423 W. Bay St. Additionally wounded within the capturing had been Salvador Pulido-Nieto, Bernardo Millan-Pulido, Hugo Medina-Rivera, and Gilberto Mediina-Rivera, whereas Jaime Nieto-Millan escaped damage.
“Choose, jury, and executioner,” Senior Deputy District Lawyer Dan Feldman mentioned Monday, pointing to Walker in the course of the prosecutor’s closing argument.
The victims labored as gardeners and landscapers and spent a uncommon time off on the vacation watching soccer, ingesting, and eating at Costa Brava restaurant in Costa Mesa, Feldman mentioned.
“The unarmed family and friends members struck his mirror and startled him so what was his first alternative? He grabbed a gun,” Feldman mentioned. “Mr. Walker made the selection to get out of his automobile … and confront them. After they gave him a ‘get the [expletive] out of my face look that was it. First, they startled him, then they insulted him. He pounced. You noticed it your self. He didn’t stroll, he ran to confront them … with the gun pulled again to his facet and racked a spherical so he’d be prepared as a result of he determined that is taking place. They had been going to pay.”
Walker and his girlfriend, Denise Segura, had been trying to find an open McDonald’s on the vacation as a result of their 4-year-old son craved rooster nuggets, Feldman mentioned. After their third failed strive, they crossed paths with Rivera-Velasco and the others when the 2003 Chevrolet Silverado they had been in clipped Walker’s 2021 Chevrolet Silverado and the side-view mirror snapped misplaced earlier than popping again into place, Feldman mentioned.
Walker adopted the opposite automobile and when it was in a left flip lane on nineteenth Road to go north on Harbor Boulevard the defendant jumped out of his pickup truck and dashed over to them and “pounded on the window,” in accordance with Feldman.
Walker testified that he noticed two weapons within the pickup truck and the six males.
“He advised you it was his proper to go and observe them, to face his floor,” Feldman mentioned. “That could be a poor, unlucky studying of the regulation that could be present in a authorized dictionary. It’s like folks with their WebMD and self-diagnosing.”
Feldman additionally pointed to the defendant’s declare that he had a “warrior intuition” in the intervening time. Walker testified it meant he was in a fight-or-flight mode and “I used to be not about to run.”
Feldman mentioned Walker’s declare of fearing imminent hazard made no sense, as he stored following the boys and when their automobile pulled over he obtained out, scampered over to the passenger facet, and opened hearth on the victims earlier than taking an additional shot to Rivera-Velasco’s head after which dashing again to seize the hat that flew off his head.
“The hazard was so nice he had time to return and get his hat,” Feldman mentioned sarcastically. “He waited for them to get out. If the hazard is so nice why allow them to get out?”
Jurors thought-about a full-on self-defense declare that may have led to an acquittal, however additionally they had the choice to contemplate lesser fees of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, which might have required buy-in to an argument of what attorneys take into account “imperfect protection,” which implies the defendant believed he was at risk however acted in a means that was unreasonable.
“The regulation will not be on his facet,” Feldman mentioned. ” An individual doesn’t have a proper to self-defense if he provokes a battle with the intent to create an excuse to make use of power.”
Feldman scoffed at Walker’s declare that he obtained out of his automobile aspiring to strive once more to “change data” for the insurance coverage corporations. The prosecutor famous he ran over to the passenger facet, not the driving force’s facet.
Segura took an image of the pickup truck as she implored the defendant to cease following the group, Feldman mentioned. After the capturing, “Mr. Walker advised [Segura] to delete that photograph,” which signifies consciousness of guilt, Feldman mentioned.
Walker’s lawyer, Randall Bethune of the Orange County Public Defender’s Workplace, acknowledged that his shopper might have stopped following the pickup truck, “However that isn’t the authorized normal. That doesn’t tackle the problem of whether or not he was justified.”
Walker was the sufferer of against the law when the opposite truck hit his automobile and he had a proper to pursue somebody leaving the scene of an accident, Bethune argued.
“He didn’t comprehend it was minor harm,” Bethune mentioned. “He advised them you hit my automobile. They selected to disregard him. They take a look at him and hold going. From his perspective, the proper factor to do is to speak about this … Objectively, they aren’t following the regulation.”
Bethune additionally mentioned the driving force, Gilberto Medina-Rivera, was driving drunk.
“Mr. Walker sees who’s within the automobile and he testifies he sees two weapons. That heightens the hazard,” Bethune argued. “From his perspective, the hazard is imminent and rising and rising.”
The group was dropping off Nieto-Millan, who lived the place the pickup truck stopped, however that wasn’t all they had been doing, Bethune argued. Additionally, the defendant didn’t know Nieto-Millan lived at that tackle or why they had been pulling over, Bethune mentioned.
“From his perspective, they’re slowing right down to confront him or slowing right down to get behind him,” Bethune argued. “His concern is that they’re going to confront him … after which one thing occurred that he didn’t intend.”
Walker opened hearth as Rivera-Velasco “was coming towards him,” Bethune argued. “That’s when he used power and that’s affordable.”
Hugo Medina-Rivera “was proper behind him,” Bethune mentioned. “Is he supposed to attend until he’s attacked? In case your spouse and little one are within the truck why would you need to wait until they arrive to you?”
