Man Convicted of Murder in His Son-in-Law’s Death

A 55-year-old Los Alamitos man was convicted of first-degree murder Monday in the death of his son-in-law, who had been feuding with his estranged wife, the defendant’s daughter.

James J. Rovida Jr., a self-employed truck driver, faces an automatic sentence of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 22 by Superior Court Judge Robert C. Todd.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum said jurors told him after the verdict that they simply had not believed witnesses who said Rovida was with other family members when the shooting occurred.

“This was a whodunit case,” Rosenblum said. “It was an either/or situation for the defendant. Once the jurors didn’t buy his alibi, that was pretty much it.”

Rovida was convicted in the July 6, 1989, shooting death of his son-in-law, Robert Brock, 34, who was found slain in the front yard of his sister’s home in the 1400 block of East Quincy Avenue in Orange. Brock, who had just returned home from his job in a Fullerton printing plant, had been shot twice with a handgun. Rovida’s pickup truck was identified leaving the scene.

Prosecutors also charged Rovida with trying to kill his son-in-law by shooting him on the freeway in late June. But on that charge the jurors returned a lesser verdict of attempted voluntary manslaughter instead of attempted murder, deciding that the incident had occurred in the heat of passion.

While the attempted murder charge was not significant to the prosecution, Rovida’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, believes that it contributed to the jury’s decision on the murder charge.

“I really believe this is a strong appellate issue,” Meyer said. “These incidents occurred more than a week apart. There was no reason to put them together at the same trial. It inflamed the jury and made it very, very difficult for us.”

In July, 1987, Brock had been arrested in Cypress and charged with beating his wife, Catherine Anne. He pleaded no contest and was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to complete 30 days of community service. The couple had been together on and off since then and were known to have serious disputes. They were estranged at the time Brock was killed, with Catherine Anne living with her parents in Los Alamitos and Brock living at his sister’s house, where he was found dead.

Meyer said the case “has been very, very difficult for everyone involved. My client has had a tough time with this.”

Rovida did not testify but had made statements to police that he knew nothing about his son-in-law’s death.

The jurors deliberated less than two full days before returning their verdict.