Gang Member Convicted in Slaying at Mall

A Crips gang member who opened fire on a member of the rival Bloods in a Panorama City mall crowded with Christmas shoppers and killed a teen-age boy by mistake was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

After a day of deliberations, a Van Nuys Superior Court jury found Roger Leon White, 23, of Van Nuys guilty in the death of Sergio Alpuche, 16, also of Van Nuys.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels, the prosecutor, told jurors that White was aiming at a member of the rival Bloods gang when he shot Alpuche at the Panorama City Mall on Dec. 16, 1988.

Alpuche was not a gang member, police said.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Darlene E. Schempp scheduled sentencing for Feb. 2. White faces a maximum sentence of 27 years to life.

White’s alleged accomplice in the shooting, William Stalling, 19, of Pacoima, pleaded guilty earlier to a charge of being an accessory to the murder and was sentenced to the one year he had already served in jail since his arrest.

Prosecutors said the pair, members of the Crips gang, confronted Ernest Townsend, of the rival Bloods gang, as he walked past the mall with his girlfriend and baby. Townsend testified at the preliminary hearing for White and Stalling that the two men ordered him to put down his baby.

He said he ran inside the mall and handed the baby to a friend before the shooting began.

White’s attorney, James D. Gregory, told jurors that there was no evidence that White shot Alpuche.

He argued that a key witness changed her testimony and that several witnesses gave conflicting testimony in identifying White.