Delay Granted in Trial of Alleged Hit Man

The trial of Paul Gordon Alleyne, accused of shooting a San Clemente businessman in a contract hit gone wrong, was delayed Thursday to give defense attorneys time to examine possible new evidence that they hope will exonerate their client.

Alleyne, 32, is accused of shooting James Wengert in a San Clemente parking structure on April 10. Investigators say the shooting was ordered by the late Coleman Allen, owner of Premium Commercial Services Corp., a Huntington Beach finance firm that authorities have linked to homicides in Hollywood and Fountain Valley.

Defense attorney Federico Sayre contends that his client is the victim of mistaken identity and is optimistic that new developments will favor his client.

“We were advised by the district attorney that they may have new information,” Sayre said. “It is an interview with a felon” who has information on the shooting.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Glazier said only that the trial, which had been scheduled to begin next week, was delayed until Dec. 2 for “further investigation by the defense.”

Glazier would not comment specifically on Sayre’s remarks.

“I’m not going to talk about details of the case,” Glazier said. “There is ongoing investigation pending jury trial.”

Orange County sheriff’s deputies say Alleyne was hired to kill Wengert for his $500,000 life insurance policy, which listed Allen’s company as sole beneficiary.

Alleyne was ordered to carry it out, police say, because he owed money to Allen. Wengert was shot in the face, leaving him with a scar, a broken jaw and five shattered teeth.

At a preliminary hearing in June, an emotional Wengert pointed to Alleyne and said he had “no doubt” that he was the gun-wielding man who confronted him in the basement parking structure.

Sayre had suggested during the preliminary hearing that Wengert had identified the wrong man in a photo lineup, and he reiterated that theory outside court Thursday.

In June 1995, Wengert’s wife, Margaret “Peggy” Wengert, 62, filed a lawsuit against Premium Commercial. Three days later, flight attendant Jane Carver, 46, was shot to death in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity, with Wengert’s wife being the killer’s true target.

The Wengerts once owned a house not far from Carver’s near the Fountain Valley park where Carver was shot in the face, in a manner similar to the Wengert shooting. Allen had seized the house, which was in Peggy Wengert’s name, as a means of repaying Wengert’s debt.