Could Face Death Sentence : Transient Found Guilty in ’84 Slaying of Pharmacist

A 35-year-old transient was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the 1984 slaying and robbery of a Northridge pharmacist.

A San Fernando Superior Court jury reached the verdict against Jack Oscar Leo after deliberating for 2 1/2 days. The same jury will decide whether Leo should be put to death for firing the shotgun blast that killed Robert Charles Mallory, 62, during the robbery of the Plaza West Pharmacy in the 19600 block of Parthenia Street.

Judge Dana Senit Henry scheduled the penalty phase of the trial to begin March 9.

A hearing will be held Thursday to determine whether the jury will be allowed to consider Leo’s prior felony convictions, including one for attempted murder, in deciding his sentence.

In addition to first-degree murder, the jury also found Leo guilty of eight other counts stemming from the robbery. The tall, blond defendant showed little emotion as the verdict was read.

The victim’s wife, Bettie, and daughter, Laura, 25, who was in the store when her father was shot, hugged the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Myron L. Jenkins, after jurors were dismissed.

During the trial, Dawn Elayne Ayres, 29, who was arrested with Leo in Venice a week and a half after the Feb. 27, 1984, crime, testified as a prosecution witness.

Mallory struggled with her inside the store during the robbery, then stumbled, she said, and Leo then fired the sawed-off shotgun at the pharmacist, striking him in the chest. But Ayres also said it was “not meant that anybody be injured.”

Ayres pleaded guilty in December to one count of second-degree murder and two counts of robbery, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Leo testified that he was high on heroin at the time of the shooting. He said he did not know that the shotgun he carried was loaded.