Gang Member Convicted of Murdering Girl

A 20-year-old gang member was convicted Tuesday of fatally stabbing a Huntington Beach High School girl and leaving her body in the street before he and other teens drove off in her car.

Alan David Salomon, who had met Mary Irene Lewis less than an hour before the stabbing, faces more than 16 years to life in prison for second-degree murder when he is sentenced on Feb. 14 in Orange County Superior Court.

Salomon of San Bernardino denied stabbing the 16-year-old on June 20, 1995, but two others riding in the girl’s car that evening said he killed her in front of them after a minor dispute over gas money escalated out of control.

On Tuesday, the victim’s family and friends filled one side of the small courtroom to hear the verdict, while Salomon’s supporters filled the other. Both families had faithfully attended the trial, and despite the stress, were respectful of the other.

“[This] has altered families forever,” said Regina Lewis, the victim’s mother. “Our whole attitude has changed toward everything.”

Although Lewis’ relatives expressed relief at the verdict, they said they were disappointed jurors did not find Salomon guilty of a more serious charge of first-degree murder. Either way, relatives said it would be impossible to put the tragedy behind them.

“There’s never closure on something like this,” Regina Lewis said. “That’s a big lie. Your loved one is still dead.

“There’s just never going to be justice,” she added. “He’ll be in prison and his mother can visit him. I can only put flowers on my daughter’s grave. There is no justice.”

Police and prosecutors said Lewis and four other youths, several of whom reportedly belonged to an Orange County-based gang, had driven to San Bernardino that night to pick up Salomon. During the drive back, Lewis, who was not a member of the gang, apparently complained about needing money to buy gas, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Levy said.

“How we go from that to what happened, I don’t know,” the prosecutor said.

About 1 a.m., two hours after Lewis had called home to say she was going out for something to eat, the group stopped on Acacia Avenue, a quiet residential street near Brookhurst Way in Garden Grove, to drop off one of the occupants. There, Salomon stabbed Lewis, two witnesses in the car said. She was stabbed 14 times and suffered a fatal blow to the back of her neck. The four youths then fled in her car.

Her body was found lying face up in a pool of blood.

Salomon was arrested about two months later, after an investigation by almost a third of the Garden Grove police force and help from police in El Cajon, where Lewis’ stripped Nissan was found.

Levy said investigators were able to piece together Lewis’ last hours by tracing calls left on her pager. The discovery of her car and anonymous calls to police from at least two people also were key in the arrest.

Two of the youths in the car that night were granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony about Salomon, known as “Little Man” in the gang, Levy said. A third person who was in the car faces a charge of being an accessory to murder, Levy said.

Salomon’s attorney said his client accused a girl in the car of the stabbing, claiming the girl was jealous because Lewis was involved with her boyfriend. But that girl named Salomon as the killer.

“There’s really no motive [for Salomon] to stab her,” Deputy Alternate Defender John Zitny said. “The jealousy motive made more sense.” He said the accused girl suffered a cut on her hand.

But jurors, after deliberating about 15 hours over four days, said they believed Salomon was the killer, and told attorneys they faced the most difficulty in deciding whether it was first- or second-degree murder.

Taking a snapshot of her daughter out of her purse Tuesday and holding it for others to see, Regina Lewis said, “There was no reason for her death. She didn’t deserve it. She was just a kid.”

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Greg Hernandez.