Orange Man Is Guilty in 1993 Stabbing Death : Courts: Penalty phase will start next week for landscaper charged with killing an acquaintance.

A landscaper from Orange was convicted Monday of robbing and stabbing to death a 22-year-old acquaintance as the victim tried to fight off his attacker.

An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated 2 1/2 days before finding Alfredo Valencia, 35, guilty of charges that carry a possible death sentence.

Jurors will return to court next Monday for the trial’s penalty phase to recommend whether Valencia should receive the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison with no parole.

Valencia was convicted of killing Roberto Cruz of Orange in Cruz’s car after the two drove to a parking lot in the 800 block of North Cypress Street on Dec. 15, 1993.

Cruz, who worked as a silk screener in Santa Ana, was stabbed 14 times in the torso and his throat was slashed.

Deputy Public Defender Sharon Petrosino said she was disappointed with the verdict, because she contended that the prosecution failed to prove a robbery occurred.

“I feel that the jury put the burden of proving his innocence on us when legally the burden must be on the prosecution to prove his guilt,” Petrosino said. “There’s just no evidence to prove that anything was taken.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lew Rosenblum declined to comment.

During the monthlong trial, Petrosino and Valencia’s second defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Hector Chaparro, admitted to jurors that Valencia killed Cruz. But they denied that the killing occurred during the commission of a robbery--the special circumstance allegation that makes Valencia eligible for a death sentence.

The defense argued that he was guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, because Valencia was suffering from a drug addiction and mental illness that caused him to mistakenly believe that Cruz was about to attack him. Manslaughter carries a maximum 11-year prison sentence.

But the prosecutor said there is no evidence that Valencia suffered from any mental illness. He argued that Valencia deliberately robbed and killed Cruz.

Rosenblum told jurors that the two men may have gotten together and driven around in Cruz’s car because Valencia said he was interested in buying the car. But instead, Valencia, who has a 15-year criminal history that includes armed robbery and grand theft, stole Cruz’s backpack, which may have contained $653 from a paycheck Cruz had cashed earlier in the day, and tried to steal his wallet, Rosenblum said.

Police found the wallet outside of Cruz’s pocket, lying next to his body, but they never found the backpack or the money.

Rosenblum said he believed Cruz put up a fight that discouraged Valencia from actually taking the wallet once he got it out of his pocket.

Chaparro argued that because the money and backpack were never recovered and the wallet was not taken, there was no proof that Valencia robbed Cruz.

Several of his family members testified that Valencia was hearing voices and talking and shouting at people. A drug test also showed that Valencia had taken methamphetamine the day of the murder, Chaparro said.

Shortly after the killing, Valencia also approached a woman parked in a car across the street and pointed to Cruz’s car, he said.

“That is not rational behavior for someone who has just robbed someone and is trying to flee,” Chaparro said.

The penalty phase of the trial is expected to last three weeks. Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno will make the final decision on Valencia’s sentence.