Newbury Park Man Found Guilty in Slaying of Sister’s Boyfriend : Crime: Jury delivers verdict after a court reporter rereads testimony. Defendant is convicted of first-degree murder and faces 30 years to life in prison.

After a court reporter spent more than two hours reading back the testimony of a Newbury Park murder suspect Tuesday, a Ventura County jury found the defendant guilty of killing his sister’s boyfriend last June.

Todd Richard Love, 27, had contended during the testimony that he shot 32-year-old Frank Kish in the head and abdomen in self-defense as the two struggled over a gun.

But shortly after hearing the testimony again, the panel convicted Love of first-degree murder and an additional charge that he used a firearm in the commission of the crime.

Love faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 28.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley said the jury apparently noticed Love’s “selective memory” during his testimony. Love often recalled vivid details of the early-morning altercation when his attorney was questioning him, but claimed not to remember many events when cross-examined by the prosecutor.

“It seems his strategy was to make up things that happened that didn’t require anyone hearing them,” Frawley said.

Love’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Robert A. Dahlstedt, could not be reached after the verdict was returned late Tuesday afternoon.

Frawley said he did not get a chance to question jurors after the verdict, but said it was clear that they did not believe much of Love’s account.

Love testified that, moments before the shooting, he and Kish shared a six-pack of beer and that he had given Kish a hug to show that a feud between the two of them was over.

Love said a belligerent Kish began pummeling him for no apparent reason. Love said he got up, called 911, headed upstairs to get his gun, and was trying to leave the house but was rushed at the base of the stairs.

A tape played for the jury showed that Love screamed eight times to operators that he was going to kill Kish. But Love testified that he only made that threat in order to speed up the police response.

As deputies were being dispatched to the location and operators remained on the line, Love said he tried to go up to his second-floor room where he kept a handgun, Frawley said.

Love’s sister, Kelli, who was in the house, testified that Kish met Love at the base of the stairs before Love was able to climb them. Kelli Love testified that “the victim put his hands around the defendant and said, ‘Todd, this (feud) has got to stop. Todd, we are family,’ ” Frawley said. He added, “Those are words of peace.”

Instead of accepting a truce, Frawley said, Love returned with the handgun and shot Kish twice.

“I think one of the basic things the jury possibly keyed on is, you don’t bring a gun to a fistfight,” Frawley said. “He lost the fight to a guy he thought was a nerd. He was humiliated by it, and he got a gun and took his revenge.”

Love contended that he retrieved the gun only to scare Kish away. He said Kish was shot in the forehead as the victim rushed him at the base of the stairs. Kish continued to struggle and was accidentally shot a second time in the abdomen.

Love said he took no gratification in Kish’s injuries, other than that Kish was no longer a threat to harm him.

Jurors began deliberations Nov. 24. At the end of that day, they asked Judge Lawrence Storch if they could have Love’s testimony read to them. The panel did not ask to rehear the testimony of any of the other 19 witnesses who took the stand.

A stenographer read Love’s testimony to the panel Tuesday, the jurors’ first day back in deliberations.

Under state law, Storch must give Love a prison sentence of 25 years to life on the murder conviction. The judge has the choice of sentencing him to three, four or five years on the special allegation that he used a firearm, Frawley said.