Manslaughter Verdict in Shotgun Death : Azusa: The jury decided that the shooting, prompted by complaints of loud music, was a crime of passion and not a premeditated execution.

A 21-year-old Azusa man accused of murdering his neighbor in a dispute over loud music has been found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, as well as three other felonies stemming from the June 30 shooting.

Donald Ternus, a truck loader at an electronics warehouse, faces a maximum 16 years in state prison for the assault, a racially charged incident that occurred on a crime-plagued cul-de-sac after a night of beer-drinking.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 19 by Pomona Superior Court Judge Robert Martinez.

Prosecutors had argued that Ternus committed first- or second-degree murder when, after trading epithets, he marched over to Anthony Ortiz’s apartment with a loaded shotgun and blasted the 37-year-old glass cutter in the stomach and head.

But after seven days of deliberations, a 10-man, two-woman jury Tuesday found Ternus guilty of voluntary manslaughter, indicating that they believed the shooting was not a premeditated execution but a crime of passion.

“Obviously, I was disappointed,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ingrid Uhler, who prosecuted the case. “But because of the quickness of the event, I could see how the jurors felt there wasn’t sufficient time for him to cool off . . . so that he was still acting under the heat of passion.”

Ternus’ attorney, Robert D. Chatterton, had argued that the husky redhead felt as if he were a victim of his neighborhood, a mostly Latino section of Azusa in which drug dealing was rampant.

After shouting at Ortiz to turn down his stereo, Ternus carried the shotgun over there, “not intending to use it, but to protect himself, so he wouldn’t get attacked,” Chatterton said.

Ternus contended that he fired the weapon in self-defense when Ortiz and several others on Ortiz’s second-story balcony descended and began to surround him.

The jury found Ternus guilty of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon for firing three shots that wounded Ortiz’s cousin, Jeffrey Mora, 22. Mora testified that Ortiz had approached Ternus merely to calm him down, not threaten him.

Ternus, who admitted to drinking two six-packs of beer that night, was also convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for wounding Joe Rodriguez, 43, a neighbor who was visiting Ortiz.

The jury deadlocked, however, on whether Ternus was guilty of attempted murder for hitting Rodriguez in the nose with two pellets of buckshot. Prosecutors will announce at the sentencing hearing whether they intend to retry him on that charge.