Man Convicted of Killing Gas Attendant

A 19-year-old was convicted Thursday of killing a Seal Beach gas-station clerk during a robbery that got him $160 cash and some snacks.

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Jurors deliberated about three hours before finding Oscar Lemus, of Long Beach, guilty of first-degree murder for the shooting of Danette Garrett. Because the murder occurred during a robbery, he could be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

“I feel kind of elated, like I can breathe again,” said Joann Garrett, the slain woman’s mother. “It’s really been difficult, even after all these months. But at least it’s half over.

“I had no doubt in my mind that he is guilty, but I was worried that somehow he wouldn’t be convicted. The justice system does work.”

A separate trial began Thursday for Lemus’ suspected accomplice. Mario Luis Ortiz was 14 at the time and is charged under a recent state law allowing youths as young as 14 to be tried as adults for the most serious crimes.

The trial of Ortiz, also charged with first-degree murder, is expected to take about a week. Lemus is to be sentenced Dec. 1 by Orange County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Rackauckas Jr.

“I was really happy to see what I considered to be a just verdict,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Vickie L. Hix, who prosecuted the case. “It was made possible by excellent police work.”

Early on March 12, police officers found Garrett, 33, shot in the back in an upstairs office of the Arco station at 490 Pacific Coast Highway.

Graffiti had been scrawled on the door and walls and some office equipment and store merchandise had been stolen. Police were led to Ortiz, Hix said, after tracing his fingerprints from one of the packets of sunflower seeds that were strewn on the floor.

A search of Ortiz’s home in Long Beach turned up batteries and condoms from the store, along with a newspaper article detailing the slaying, Hix said. Ortiz implicated Lemus, she said.

Investigators also contend that $160 was taken from the gas station.

A 16-year-old girl told police she had been with Lemus, Ortiz and another girl that night, and the foursome had spent time at the beach before stopping at the gas station. She told investigators that she saw Lemus walk into the station and come back out with the package of sunflower seeds, authorities said.

Police Detective Bob Mullins, who had worked on the case with three to four other investigators since March, said Thursday he was “ecstatic” about the verdict.

“I’m very happy for the family. This will be a good closure for them,” Mullins said. “She was the most innocent victim you can have.”

Garrett recently had moved to Long Beach from Florida after a troubled marriage and was working two jobs, friends and relatives said. During her free time, she frequently drove her mother to visit friends and run errands, said the elder Garrett, who has attended every trial date.

“My daughter would never intentionally hurt anybody in her whole life,” the mother said. “How can anybody do what was done to her for no real reason? It’s a horror. I don’t know what else to call it.”