Retrial in Contract Hit Case Underway

The defense and the prosecution made opening statements Monday in the retrial of Paul Gordon Alleyne, 32, accused of attempted murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit murder in what prosecutors allege was a contract hit gone awry.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Glazier told the jury that Alleyne shot James Wengert, 49, in the face after being ordered to kill him by the owner of a Huntington Beach finance company.

Wengert, who survived, was targeted because he owed money to the company’s owner, the prosecution said.

“The evidence will show that this was a hired hit, a contract hit,” Glazier said.

Defense attorney Federico Sayre did not dispute that Coleman Allen, the late owner of Premium Commercial Services Corp., set out to have Wengert killed, but argued that Wengert identified the wrong person when he picked Alleyne out of a police lineup shortly after the April 1996 attack.

Wengert first described the attacker as 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 170 pounds and with an earring and scruffy beard, the defense stated.

“Mr. Alleyne is 6 feet, 3/4 inch--almost 4 inches taller than 5 feet, 9 inches,” Sayre told the jury. He added that Alleyne never had an earring or a beard.

In December, a jury deadlocked in Alleyne’s first trial after less than two days of deliberation. Alleyne’s retrial in Orange County Superior Court is expected to last two weeks, officials said.