Jury Finds Man Guilty of Murdering 2 During Robberies

A jury deliberated more than two days before finding a 36-year-old man guilty Friday of murdering two merchants in separate 1994 robberies in Santa Ana.

Mario Briseno faces life in prison without parole when he is sentenced Dec. 13 by Superior Court Judge William W. Bedsworth.

Jurors convicted Briseno on two counts of first-degree murder in the March 1994 shooting deaths of Alvaro Martinez Diaz and Piedad Preciado, and for a third robbery of a Santa Ana record store that did not result in a death or injury. The verdict included special circumstance findings that the murders took place during robberies, which makes Briseno eligible for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Diaz, a 36-year-old jewelry salesman and father of four from Orange, was shot in the head as bandits tried to pull him from his van near a 1st Street bar just before 8 p.m.

Days later, Preciado had just opened her music store of nine years for business when she was gunned down by robbers. Fatally wounded, the 50-year-old mother of three staggered about seven steps outside the Discoteca Guadalajara on South Bristol Street before she collapsed on the sidewalk.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan McNerney said police found Briseno’s fingerprint on the jewelry salesman’s van, stolen in the robbery. The defendant’s car also was seen speeding from Preciado’s music store.

The victim of another record store robbery in February 1994 identified Briseno as one of her assailants, McNerney said.

Briseno, who denied the crimes, was serving time in prison on a parole violation in an unrelated case at the time of his arrest in the murders. There were no other arrests.