18-Year-Old Convicted in Slaying of Woman

An 18-year-old Canoga Park man was found guilty Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter in the Feb. 8 stabbing death of Dana Phleger, 19, of Sepulveda.

Stephen Alan Naquin had been charged with second-degree murder in the slaying, but Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Robert M. Letteau ruled in the non-jury trial that insufficient evidence existed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Naquin was guilty of murder.

Naquin took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and testified that an argument broke out between the two after he had performed a sex act on her with her consent. Naquin testified that Phleger, who was a friend, reached for a knife in her purse and threatened him but that he took the knife from her and stabbed her.

Defense attorney Mark Lessem argued successfully that Naquin was in “a frenzy” at the time of the killing, did not act with malice aforethought and was therefore guilty only of manslaughter.

Naquin is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6. He could receive a maximum of 12 years in state prison, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen.