Guilty Verdict Issued in ’94 Slaying

A former Reseda resident was found guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder for a 1994 killing, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Ramon Mendoza, 39, shot Humberto Chavez once in the head with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun on May 30, 1994, after a dispute at a Reseda house, Deputy Dist. Atty. James R. Bozajian said. The Van Nuys jury deliberated two days for Mendoza’s retrial before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Harwin. Mendoza’s first trial ended in a hung jury.

All of the witnesses had been living or visiting the house, the site of drug activities, Bozajian said. They included Mendoza’s former girlfriend who saw him pull the trigger but had initially lied to police investigators, Bozajian said. Mendoza fled after the shooting and remained at large until 1998, when law enforcement found him in a Texas prison on another offense.

Mendoza faces a maximum 15 years to life, plus up to five more years because of the special allegation of personal use of a firearm, Bozajian said. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8.