Parolee Is Convicted of Killing Father of 3 : Crime: Jury will decide whether Scott Forrest Collins gets the death penalty in the kidnaping, robbery and slaying of a construction supervisor.

A jury convicted a prison parolee Thursday of kidnaping a father of three, using his ATM card, and then executing him with a shot to the head.

Scott Forrest Collins, 21, was found guilty, after four days of deliberations by a Van Nuys Superior Court jury, of murdering Fred D. Rose on Jan. 23, 1992. Jurors will reconvene on Oct. 12 to determine whether Collins will be executed.

“The verdict is just, that’s the way it should be,” said Robert Baker, Rose’s stepfather who attended the trial.

“I think if capital punishment is done in a timely, humane manner--which we have the capability of doing today--that is the way you show the sanctity of life,” Baker said.

There are only two possible sentences: execution in San Quentin’s gas chamber or state prison for life without the possibility of parole.

Collins, tried before Superior Court Judge Leon Kaplan, was convicted of first-degree murder along with two special circumstance allegations: murder during a robbery and murder during a kidnaping for robbery.

Rose, a 41-year-old construction supervisor and father of three, was killed near railroad tracks in North Hollywood only blocks from where Collins once lived. During the trial, witnesses described Rose as a loving and peaceful man.

Because they must still decide punishment, jurors were not permitted to discuss the case. But the verdicts indicate the panel agreed with prosecutors who argued that Collins abducted Rose at gunpoint during his lunch hour and killed him about four hours later.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino said she was satisfied with the jury’s decision. “I think the verdict was extremely justified,” she said.

During closing arguments, D’Agostino said Collins killed Rose to ensure that there would be no witnesses to his latest crime. Collins, who was convicted in 1989 of armed robbery and sentenced to five years in prison, was paroled one month prior to Rose’s murder.

Collins, unemployed and broke, forced Rose into his own car at a Lancaster liquor store, according to D’Agostino. The pair drove to the San Fernando Valley, the prosecutor said, where Collins used Rose’s ATM card to withdraw $200 before he shot Rose.

Collins was videotaped using Rose’s ATM card, he was in Rose’s car when he was arrested one day after the slaying, and Collins told several Bakersfield gang members that Rose’s car and a .38-caliber revolver in his possession “had a murder rap,” according to the evidence.

“I believe the evidence was so overwhelming it’s hard to know just which item of evidence, if any, specifically was one that the jury focused on,” D’Agostino said.

Collins testified that he stumbled upon and drove off in Rose’s abandoned car. He said he found Rose’s wallet inside and then illegally used the victim’s credit cards. But Collins insisted he had nothing to do with Rose’s murder.

During the upcoming penalty phase, defense attorney Bruce Hill must present evidence to counteract, or mitigate, evidence from prosecutors that will certainly include Collin’s lengthy criminal history and the impact of Rose’s murder on his family.

“Essentially, we may be asking the question of why there wasn’t more intervention that perhaps would have made a difference if in fact he is guilty of the crime,” said Hill.