FULLERTON : Guilty Verdict Urged in Couple’s Shooting

The attorney prosecuting Richard L. Rodriguez, 22, who is accused of being hired by an Anaheim man to kill his parents, urged the jury to return guilty verdicts on all charges as they began their deliberations Tuesday.

In his closing remarks, Assistant Dist. Atty. Ed Freeman retraced the day when Pauline Terry, shot four times in the upper torso, crawled past her husband, Owen Terry, who had been shot twice in the head, and dialed 911 for help. The shootings occurred Nov. 28, 1988, in their Anaheim home.

Pauline Terry, 52, was an instructional aide at Riverdale Elementary School in Orange and Owen Terry, 56, was an accountant.

The couple’s only son, David John Terry, 19, is also charged with murder and attempted murder, and his trial is expected to begin this summer.

“It’s a very emotional case,” defense attorney Michael A. Horan told the jury Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court. “I told you it would be.”

But Horan argued that Rodriguez was not the killer, that he never even entered the Terry’s home. His only role, Horan argued, was to act as a middleman to fence property stolen from the Terrys.

Rodriguez was found by police dogs, hiding in a bush at a riverbed near the home. Also found there were a handgun, jewelry and a pair of gloves, Freeman said. The gun and jewelry belonged to the Terrys, he said.

Freeman reminded the jury of witnesses’ testimony that Rodriguez had been given the gun by David Terry to enter the home, shoot the parents and rob them of all the jewelry he could get.

If Rodriguez was fencing property for two of the key witnesses, as the defense claims, why didn’t he say so when those witnesses testified, Freeman asked.

“The only reasonable conclusion in this case is that Richard Rodriguez is the burglar, robber, murderer of Owen Terry and the attempted murderer of Pauline Terry,” Freeman concluded.

Rodriguez is charged with murder, attempted murder, robbery and burglary.