3 Convicted in Killings of Police Officer, Grocer

Three men were convicted of first-degree murder Thursday for killing a Maywood police officer, and two of them were also found guilty of murdering a Van Nuys market owner, clearing the way for a jury to determine whether they should be sentenced to death.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Jose Contreras, Benjamin Alberto Navarro and Edgardo Sanchez Fuentes guilty of the May 29, 1992, shooting of Officer John Hoglund, who was gunned down as he responded to a silent burglar alarm at a Maywood market.

Hoglund, 46, was the first officer in the history of the Maywood Police Department to be killed in the line of duty.

Contreras and Fuentes were also convicted of murdering Lee Chul Kim, 49, who was shot on May 4, 1992, in the freezer of his grocery store in Van Nuys after he returned from the bank with a large amount of cash.

The announcement of the verdicts pleased friends of Hoglund who were in court Thursday.

“I’m stunned, I’m amazed, and I think it’s great,” said his fiancee, Terri Smith, who noted Hoglund had set their wedding date the night before he was killed.

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Fuentes and Contreras were each convicted on 38 counts--including murder, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and stun guns--stemming from a series of seven robberies. Navarro, who was not charged in connection with the Kim slaying, was convicted on 32 counts for his role in five of the robberies.

The three men were also found guilty of a laundry list of special allegations that expose them to the death penalty, including killing a police officer and committing murder during the course of a robbery and to avoid arrest.

Fuentes and Contreras, who were each acquitted of two counts of robbery, were also found guilty of the special allegation of committing multiple murders.

“I think it’s a wonderful verdict,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Speer, who co-prosecuted the case with Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard.

To convict the men, all in their early 20s, prosecutors relied on a security camera videotape that clearly captured the images of the three defendants inside the burglarized Maywood grocery store, just minutes before the shooting of Hoglund. At one point in the video, some of them were shown walking around the store after the robbery, drinking Gatorade.

Prosecutors also alleged that during the robberies, which spanned an area from Paramount to Van Nuys, the defendants used electric-shock stun guns on employees to torture them into handing over money, threatened to cut off one woman’s fingers and shoved a gun in another man’s mouth and threatened to blow his brains out.

The trial will continue Monday with the start of the penalty phase, during which jurors must decide whether the three should be sentenced to death.

“We’ve known from the outset that the fiercest battle is going to be waged at the penalty phase,” said James Leonard, an attorney for Contreras. “I’m confident that after a jury hears all the evidence about Mr. Contreras’ life they will reject the death penalty.”

Eric K. Davis, an attorney for Navarro, who described the verdicts as “expected,” said he will present a psychologist who is an expert on Central American culture to testify on behalf of his client, who is from El Salvador.

“My client has never denied his involvement, but our position has always been . . . that the death penalty is not the appropriate punishment,” said Davis, who described Navarro as the lookout during several of the robberies.

James Coady, a deputy public defender representing Fuentes, could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Speer said she plans to present her own evidence showing two of the defendants committed violent crimes in the past. The prosecutor said Navarro has a prior armed robbery conviction and Fuentes has a prior conviction for possession of cocaine base and had been arrested for attempted robbery.

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The penalty phase is expected to last about a week, attorneys said.

Hoglund’s fiancee said she planned to celebrate Thursday’s verdicts with friends and family at the slain officer’s favorite Mexican restaurant in Duarte.

“I don’t want John’s memory to be forgotten,” she said. “He died in the line of duty. He’s a true hero.”

She added that “the sadness that came when we lost John resurfaced,” last week with news of the slaying of LAPD Officer Charles Heim at a Hollywood motel.

“He too had all his future ahead of him,” Smith said. “His baby, his health.”