First-Degree Murder Conviction Reduced by County Judge : Courts: Newbury Park man faced 28 years to life but now faces a maximum of 18 years. The ruling is called unprecedented.

Over strong objections from a prosecutor, a Ventura County judge Friday threw out a first-degree murder conviction that a jury had handed down to a Newbury Park man and instead found the defendant guilty of second-degree murder.

Todd Love faced 28 years to life in prison before Friday’s decision by Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch. He now faces a maximum of 18 years, authorities said.

Veteran prosecutors called the judge’s ruling unprecedented and said they could not recall another such decision in a Ventura County murder case.

A jury found the 27-year-old Love guilty in December of fatally shooting his sister’s boyfriend, Frank Kish, as 911 operators heard the shooting on the phone and recorded it on audio tape.

The jury decided against convicting Love of the lesser offense of second-degree murder, finding that he planned Kish’s death after losing a fistfight to the victim and killed the victim deliberately.

Storch, however, ruled Friday that prosecutors had not proven that Love killed with premeditation.

The judge bristled at a prosecutor’s suggestion that he had not thought long and hard about reducing the jury’s verdict.

“I have listened to the (911) tape a half-dozen times,” Storch responded. “I’ve reviewed the court transcript. I have thought about this case for weeks and weeks. This is not something I take lightly.”

Storch said Love appeared to have killed Kish in the heat of the moment.

“I think what happened in this case is the victim got the better of the (fist) fight, and your client could not handle it,” the judge told defense attorneys.

Storch also said that under California law he is obligated to see that the jury’s verdict is appropriate. “I think on this record to uphold murder in the first degree would be unjust,” he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley was visibly upset after the hearing.

“For a judge to act as a 13th juror, it is the people’s view that that’s improper,” Frawley said outside court. “It’s rather incredible.”

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said the district attorney’s office will review the judge’s decision to see if there is a basis for an appeal. “There’s a very high likelihood that we will appeal,” McGee said.

Two jurors who were contacted at their homes Friday expressed surprise by Storch’s ruling.

“For crying out loud, he called 911 and told them what was going to happen,” juror Melvin Popejoy of Oxnard said. “It looks to me like premeditated.

Popejoy said the jurors in the case were “pretty sure and pretty complete and unanimous. We went through every stage and read the law pertaining to the case and everything pointed to first degree.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I have no second guesses at the verdict,” said juror Roger Hevley, a Navy meteorologist. “I think if we did it again, we would do it the same way.”

During Love’s trial, Deputy Public Defender Robert A. Dahlstedt argued that his client shot Kish in the stomach and head in self-defense. Attorneys hired by Love’s family filed motions asking for a new trial and for a reduced conviction.

Dahlstedt said Friday that the judge did not go far enough in reducing the conviction. “I think it should have been manslaughter,” Dahlstedt said.

Carlo A. Spiga, one of Love’s new attorneys, said: “Something like this (Storch’s ruling) just doesn’t happen by accident. The judge has to really feel that an injustice had been done.”

Spiga also said prosecutors initially offered to reduce charges to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for Love’s guilty plea. Love rejected the offer because prosecutors could not guarantee him a reduced sentence, the attorney said.

Kelli Love, Love’s sister and Kish’s girlfriend, attended Friday’s hearing along with her mother and father.

“I love my brother,” said Kelli, sobbing outside the courtroom. “He didn’t mean it. This wasn’t murder.”

“The whole thing is a tragedy on both sides of the family,” said Love’s father, John.