TORRANCE : Oregon Man Convicted in Home-Invasion Slaying
An Oregon man was convicted Tuesday of seven charges, including murder with special circumstances, for the May, 1993, home-invasion slaying of a Torrance man and the assault and shooting of his wife.
After a trial during which his attorney called no witnesses, Randy Eugene Garcia, 24, of Portland, was convicted of killing Joseph Finzel and wounding Lynn Finzel. Deputy Dist. Atty. Sally Thomas said she would seek the death penalty.
Garcia was wearing the dead man’s wedding ring when he was arrested. Lynn Finzel identified him as the killer, and several of Garcia’s friends told police he had confessed to the attack.
On the last day of the trial, Lynn Finzel testified that Garcia entered her 180th Place home on May 8, 1993. Garcia woke her up, and with her baby lying nearby, assaulted her, she said. When her husband, Joseph, arrived home, Garcia shot and killed him, then shot her twice.
Lynn Finzel spent the next two hours playing dead as Garcia ransacked the house.
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