Blount verdict pleases family

Even when the evidence put a Compton man at the scene of the murder and witnesses testified he did it during the trial, the victim’s family had their doubts he’d be convicted.

“They don’t know much about the laws here in the United States, but I kept telling them, ‘No, no, look at the evidence. He will pay,’” Bernice Contreras remembered assuring her cousin Israel Maciel’s parents during the trial. Maciel, 23, was killed in a drive-by shooting Aug. 2, 2006. His parents, Agustina Mendoza and step-father Martin Rodriguez, immigrants from Mexico, were afraid Maciel’s killer would get away with it.

Those doubts were assuaged Wednesday. Compton and Tustin resident Joshua Blount, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement and four counts of attempted murder.

The sentencing enhancement is for the murder happening during a drive-by shooting and means Blount automatically faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy said.

“We started crying. It was because of a release we felt inside us,” Contreras said of the family’s reaction. “I really have faith in the law.”

The jury deliberated for a little more than five hours Wednesday before finding Blount guilty. Blount was sitting in the prisoner bus ready to go back to jail when Orange County sheriffs pulled him back into court for the late afternoon verdict.

“I feel sorry for the [Blount] family. I understand the pain they’re going through,” Contreras said. “It’s like they took my cousin’s life, but we took their son’s life. He doesn’t have a life anymore. At least they can go and visit him and see him there — we don’t have that anymore.”

Blount was convicted of killing Maciel and wounding four of his friends in a drive-by shooting in an alley in the 1300 block of Baker Street.

Murphy proved Blount was the lone gunman, despite the defense’s assertion that Blount’s former friend and accused accomplice Anthony Dispensa was the real killer. Dispensa, facing accessory to murder charges for the same shooting, testified against Blount in the trial. He said he hoped for “consideration” from prosecutors, though none was promised.

“I expect Mr. Dispensa, once all the smoke clears, will get some kind of leniency from the DA,” defense attorney Barry Bernstein said.

Prosecutors gave this account of the shooting, which capped off a number of minor confrontations between Blount’s and Maciel’s friends. A day earlier, Aug. 1, 2006, one of Maciel’s younger friends fought one of Blount’s friends. On the day of the shooting, an unidentified woman approached Maciel’s friends looking for Blount, not realizing who they were.

Dispensa testified the woman claimed she was spit on — supplying Blount with a motive. When Blount confronted the men later, he was rebuffed. About three hours later, Blount drove down the alley with Dispensa and another man to Maciel and his friends. Maciel had not been involved in any of the previous conflicts, police said.

Blount put down the silver Chevy Impala’s tinted window and without a word fired 10 Glock 9 mm bullets at the group, hitting Maciel in the back and wounding the others. Maciel’s friend, Ricardo Molina, testified Maciel bled to death in his arms. The bullet had pierced Maciel’s lung and aorta, a pathologist testified.

“This is a guy that friggin’ needs to go to prison for the rest of his life,” Murphy said. “He embraced this whole lifestyle thing. He chose it. It’s like he wanted to become a thug, and he became one. Working this case up, the jury absolutely did the right thing.”

Bernstein said it seems the jury disregarded testimony from police that Dispensa’s mother had said Dispensa confessed to the killing. He said they also disregarded evidence that the physical description of the shooter did not match Blount as well as it did Dispensa.

“My reaction [to the verdict] is disappointment, obviously. At this point, we are confused as to the result. I hope that the appellate courts will see it our way in the future,” Bernstein said. “Well, we definitely went down fighting.”

Blount is scheduled to be sentenced July 25 in Santa Ana court. Unless McNerney throws out the sentencing enhancement conviction, Blount’s life sentence without parole is guaranteed, attorneys said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.