Death Penalty Given by Jury to Burglar Who Killed Resident

A Superior Court jury on Tuesday ordered the death penalty for Rodney Beeler, convicted of murder in the shooting death of a man who surprised Beeler as he was burglarizing the victim’s house in Orange.

Beeler, 36, showed no emotion when the jury’s decision was read after nearly two days of deliberations on the penalty phase of the trial.

The jury took less than two hours on June 14 to convict Beeler of first-degree murder for the Dec. 30, 1985, slaying of Anthony Stevenson, 23. Stevenson was shot once in the back after he surprised Beeler, a Santa Ana resident.

Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald scheduled Beeler’s sentencing for Sept. 2.

Beeler, who did not testify at the murder trial, was arrested after he told his boss at a circuit-board manufacturing company about the murder. He had also asked co-workers: “If you were committing a burglary and the owner came home and caught you, would you shoot him?”

Some jurors said Tuesday that it was difficult to order the death sentence instead of life in prison without parole. Beeler’s reluctance to leave Stevenson’s home weighed heavily in the final vote, they said.

Juror Harold Walker of Anaheim said testimony that Beeler had been abused as a child was a strong “mitigating circumstance” that panel members considered.

“He did not go there with the intent to kill. Beeler had an opportunity to leave the house when the owner came home,” Walker said. “In most people’s minds, he had the opportunity not to shoot.

“But I tell you, it was not easy. It was a very tough decision.”

Beeler’s previous burglary convictions were submitted as evidence during the penalty phase of the case, and a 52-year-old woman testified that Beeler had raped her during a robbery attempt.

The district attorney’s office, however, did not learn of the rape accusation until after Beeler was arrested for Stevenson’s murder. The rape case against Beeler is still pending.