Santa Ana : Anaheim Man Found Guilty in Murder Case

An Anaheim man was found guilty of second-degree murder Tuesday in the shooting of a man in a dispute over money.

Fred Atherton, 30, claimed he shot John Beday, 34, of Anaheim in a struggle after Beday tried to grab a gun away from him on June 21, 1987. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jill W. Roberts had argued to Superior Court jurors that medical evidence showed Beday had been pistol-whipped before he was shot.

Beday was a longtime friend of Atherton’s wife, Roxanne. She had loaned Beday between $3,000 and $4,000, according to prosecutor Roberts. As collateral, Beday had left some musical equipment with the Athertons. But on the day of the shooting, Beday apparently broke into the Atherton home and took back the equipment without repaying the loan, jurors were told.

Testimony at Atherton’s trial showed he had first gone to the Polynesian Motel in Anaheim in search of Beday, and fired a gun, telling a motel official that Beday had better know he meant business.

Robert D. Chatterton, Atherton’s attorney, argued that the verdict should be no more than involuntary manslaughter because the two men had argued heatedly before the shooting. But jurors accepted the prosecution’s claim that the shooting met the criteria for second-degree murder, which means shooting by implied malice.

Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald, substituting for the trial judge, Donald A. McCartin, set a March 18 sentencing date. Atherton faces a term of 15 years to life in prison, plus an extra two years for use of a weapon.