Store Owner to Be Retried on Beer Sales to Teenagers

The owner of an Anaheim liquor store on Friday was ordered to stand trial a second time on charges that he sold beer to teens involved in a desert crash that killed four students from Katella High School.

A jury deadlocked last month on whether to convict Masood Zaman, the owner of Me-N-Paul’s Market, on misdemeanor counts of selling alcohol to the minors hours before the fatal crash.

“It’s important to pursue this case for the protection of our kids,” said Anaheim Assistant City Atty. Pat Ahle. “The courts have already indicated in a lot of cases filed that the juveniles are considered victims themselves. Sometimes, you have to protect the kids from themselves.”

Four students, ages 16 to 18, were killed in the July 28, 1995, crash near Victorville. The driver, James Virgil Patterson, then 17, survived the crash. He was sentenced to four months in jail for vehicular manslaughter and driving with a 0.17% blood-alcohol level--more than twice the legal limit for adults.

Prosecutors allege that Patterson showed fake identification at the store that allowed his friends to buy 12-packs of beer.

Zaman said he could not recall the youths.

Jurors in the first trial were not told about the fatal crash. But Ahle said Friday that he wants to refer to the crash during the second trial.

“We are going to try and present evidence that wasn’t in the first trial about the crash,” Ahle said. “It may be important to show certain things. We’ll have to wait for a ruling on that.”

Zaman’s defense attorney, Edward R. Munoz, had asked the judge to exclude any reference to the crash during the first trial, and the prosecution agreed.

Municipal Judge Gregg L. Prickett set a July 29 date for the second trial.

Munoz could not be reached for comment after Friday’s hearing. During the first trial, the defense attorney argued that store employees may be excused for selling alcohol to minors if they examined identification in good faith. He told jurors that the teenagers must take some responsibility for using fake ID.

Although the jurors deadlocked on the charge against Zaman, they acquitted Muhammed Hosain, a clerk at the liquor store, of the same charge. Hosain denied that he was working the night prosecutors say the beer was sold.

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is reviewing the market’s liquor license.

The department postponed a hearing scheduled earlier this month because officials needed more time to review court records and interview witnesses, said Carl Falletta, the ABC’s assistant director.

“We are attempting to get some resolution to the matter,” Falletta said Friday.