Man Convicted of Murder in Businessman’s Slaying : Courts: Benjamin Jimenez, who drove assailant to site of shooting, faces maximum sentence of life in prison.

A Paramount man was convicted of first-degree murder Friday in the labor-related shooting death of Steven Leroy Henry, a Rancho Santa Margarita businessman.

A Superior Court jury deliberated less than four hours before convicting Benjamin Jimenez, 29, of murder with special circumstances of lying in wait and for financial gain, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick Donahue.

Jimenez admitted to driving the shooter to the murder scene, but he testified that he was forced to do so and believed Henry would only be kidnaped, not killed, Donahue said.

The shooter and the person who allegedly hired Jimenez to kill Henry have not been caught, and an investigation is continuing, Donahue said.

“Based on the trial, it’s obvious that there are still people out there who we believe are guilty of this crime. It’s still an open case, and it’s still under investigation,” he said.

Sentencing was scheduled for June 27. Jimenez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, Donahue said.

Henry was killed in broad daylight at a Buena Park intersection Sept. 24, 1992, just a quarter of a mile from the Lucky warehouse where he was headed to check on his “swampers,” as the workers who unload tractor-trailers are known.

While Henry, 35, was at a traffic sign, a passenger got out of a car parked in front of him, walked to Henry’s pickup truck, and shot several times through the driver’s window, according to police accounts. The man then walked around the truck and fired again through the passenger window.

Henry and his wife started the Irvine-based West Coast Unloading Services Inc., which controls work at several local supermarket warehouses. The organization also provides workers’ compensation and liability insurance at work sites and withholds taxes on workers’ wages.

He launched the company in 1987 with an account with Lucky supermarkets, which has warehouses in Buena Park and Irvine. Henry also handled the Food for Less warehouse in La Habra. A week before his death, he had gotten accounts with Vons in San Diego and Ontario, according to Dick Rockwell, an attorney who helped the couple with some of the business’s legal affairs.

“The two of them had started the company. They worked very hard. They were growing. They had a lot of customers, and apparently their success made somebody mad,” Rockwell said Friday. “To learn that the jury thinks they got the right person is gratifying, but it’s not going to please anybody. . . . I’ve been around for a long time, and I do a lot of trial work, and this might be one of the most frustrating and saddest cases I’ve ever seen.”

Donahue said evidence tied Jimenez and his car to the scene of the crime. A witness had seen him at the Lucky warehouse in Irvine on the morning of the shooting and on both days before the shooting, he said.

Jimenez testified that he was the driver but was forced into it and believed that Henry would be kidnaped, not killed, Donahue said.

“Mr. Jimenez, at trial, stated that it was someone named Chichi Rodriguez who approached Jimenez to have Henry kidnaped,” Donahue said.

He also named the alleged shooter.

“On the stand he said ‘Felipe’ did the killing and showed a picture of Felipe,” Donahue said. “It came down to a credibility contest. Perhaps Mr. Jimenez didn’t have a lot of credibility.”

Jimenez’ attorney could not be reached for comment.