Man convicted of murder and rape

Jury returns guilty verdict in brutal 2002 slaying in Laguna Beach. Gregory Michael Pisarcik has been convicted of murder in the June 2002 slaying of 53-year-old Garciso P. Leggs in Laguna Beach.

Pisarcik, 28, was found guilty of first-degree murder, rape with a foreign object and robbery, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy.

The jury agreed with specialcircumstance allegations of murder during a robbery and involving penetration by a foreign object, which meant that the murder is considered a hate crime, Murphy said.

Pisarcik faces life in prison and will be sentenced by a judge in December, Murphy said.

The killing took place in Laguna Beach, and the body was found in Tustin.

Leggs was a retired agent for Immigration and Naturalization Service and a resident of Santa Ana.

Pisarcik cut off Leggs’ ears, tied him up, covered his head with a plastic bag, penetrated his rectum with a flashlight and wrote “fags die” on his back, according to testimony.

Pisarcik was caught two days later after a high-speed chase in which he drove Leggs’ car.

At the time of the murder Pisarcik was living in the Huntington Beach area with no address or job, Murphy said.