Santa Ana : Gang Member Convicted in Stabbing Death
An F-Troop gang member who participated in an assault on two members of a rival Samoan gang at a Santa Ana 7-Eleven on Christmas Eve in 1984 has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of one of them.
Calixtro Alvarez, 24, faces a possible 13 years in prison--11 years for the stabbing death of Maupu Naea of Santa Ana, plus an extra year for the use of a knife, plus one more year because the jury also found him guilty of assaulting a second person, Michael Sailiga, also of Santa Ana.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Brent Romney had asked the jurors for no less than second-degree murder. Romney said later the voluntary manslaughter was a “neutral” verdict.
Evidence at Alvarez’s three-week trial showed that the Royal Samoan Production gang and an F-Troop member had had an altercation about five months before the 7-Eleven incident. When Alvarez and four other F-Troop gang members saw the Samoans inside the convenience store, they decided to get revenge, prosecutors contended.
Alvarez admitted to police he knifed both victims but claimed he acted in self-defense.
The jury deliberated about a day and a half.
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