Man Guilty in Slaying of Disc Jockey

A 22-year-old Compton man was convicted Monday of fatally shooting a self-employed disc jockey in order to steal his van and expensive stereo equipment.

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury deliberated one day before finding Roger Moore Jr., guilty of first-degree murder in the Oct. 15, 1988, death of Joseph Brosta, 41, of Reseda.

Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 26. Moore could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because he was found guilty of the special allegation of committing a murder during the course of a robbery.

One of Moore’s accomplices, Frederick Kelly, 22, also of Compton, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the murder after the fact and testified for the prosecution against Moore. Moore also confessed to police that he shot Brosta.

A third man, Erin Blunt, 23, of Carson, is also facing murder charges in Brosta’s death. A preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for April.

Brosta’s body was found in an alley behind his home in the 7900 block of White Oak Avenue about 2:30 a.m. He had been shot in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun, police said.

On the night of his death, Brosta was returning from a job as disc jockey at a dance at St. Francis High School and Seminary in La Canada Flintridge, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert P. Imerman said.

While fleeing in Brosta’s van, Imerman said, the three men rammed a Los Angeles police car, which they mistakenly believed was chasing them. The car actually was answering an unrelated call. The men abandoned the vehicle and escaped on foot, but Moore’s fingerprints were found inside, Imerman said.