Trial of man accused of killing shop owner set

Mike Swanson

Jury selection for the man accused of killing the owner of Baskin

Robbins in 1995 and seriously wounding her husband is scheduled for

Monday in Santa Ana, with the trial expected to start Nov. 3.

Deputy District Atty. Susan Schroeder said 30-year-old Gilbert

Garcia’s trial would likely last at least two months.

Garcia allegedly shot and killed 52-year-old Simindokht Roshdieh

while trying to rob her ice cream shop on Feb. 20, 1995. Garcia is

also accused of trying to murder Roshdieh’s husband, then-63-year-old

Firooz Roshdieh, who was seriously wounded by a gunshot.

“He survived his physical wounds, but that can’t compare to the

emotional wounds he must have suffered,” Laguna Beach Police Capt.

Danell Adams said. “He never went back to the store after that day.”

Laguna Beach investigators issued a warrant for Garcia’s arrest in

December 2001 and brought him from Pelican Bay State Prison in

Crescent City, a maximum security facility, to Orange County. They

had interviewed him at Pelican Bay and Folsom state prisons before

issuing the warrant, Adams said.

“This case has been thoroughly, thoroughly investigated,” Adams

said. “We left nothing open to chance and made sure every door we

possibly could close was closed. The circumstances of the evidence

proved that we had time, and now we’re looking forward to finally

moving past this.”

Schroeder said jury selection in a case such as Garcia’s is

difficult because of the expected length of the trial.

“It takes time talking to jurors and finding out which ones are

time-qualified to sit through the entire case in addition to meeting

the other criteria necessary to be a juror in a homicide trial,”

Schroeder said.