Man Is Convicted of Killing Boy, 12

An Egyptian immigrant accused in the slaying of a 12-year-old La Habra boy was found guilty Tuesday of molesting and killing the child and then encasing his dismembered body in concrete.

Family members of the victim sobbed quietly in a Santa Ana courtroom as jurors announced the first-degree murder conviction of John Samuel Ghobrial, 31. The jury deliberated four hours.

During the two-week trial, defense attorneys acknowledged that Ghobrial, who has only one arm, played a role in the 1998 death of Juan Delgado. But they insisted that the killing was not premeditated and that the emigre known as a friendly panhandler did not sexually assault the sixth-grader.

The verdicts were welcomed by La Habra police officials, many of whom were so distraught by evidence in the case that the department hired a psychologist to help them cope.

Officers followed a trail of concrete blocks, leaking blood and some weighing as much as 200 pounds, to the shed where Ghobrial was living.

“We’re pleased that the jury sees things the way we do,” said La Habra Police Capt. John Rees. “It was a grisly case for the community and the people who had to work it.”

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The sentencing phase begins today. Jurors are expected to hear for the first time that Ghobrial was accused of a similar attack in Egypt.

Prosecutors said his cousin will testify that Ghobrial molested him when he was 8 and attacked him with a penknife, repeatedly stabbing him in the chest and stomach.

Ghobrial fled Egypt after the assault, authorities allege. Three years later, he made his way to Texas. There, he told federal officials he had been persecuted in Egypt because he was a Coptic Christian. An immigration judge granted him religious asylum.

Eventually, Ghobrial moved to La Habra. He didn’t have a job, but some residents were touched by his disability and tried to help him. One family allowed him to rent a backyard shed. And Ghobrial became known for giving candy to neighborhood children.

He struck up a friendship with Juan, a Washington Middle School student who lived nearby. The boy was last seen alive in March 1998, walking with a one-armed man who was carrying a basketball.

Authorities allege that Ghobrial carved up the boy’s body with a meat cleaver. Four days after Juan disappeared, shocked neighbors discovered the first of the large concrete pieces.

Detectives searched Ghobrial’s shed and recovered some of Juan’s clothes, a school detention slip, bags of concrete and pornographic magazines.

Prosecutors said they believe Ghobrial used a shopping cart to move the blocks.

During closing arguments, the attorneys debated whether Ghobrial raped Juan.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent said Ghobrial “had an unnatural desire” for the boy. But Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg argued that scientific tests did not conclusively prove that Juan was raped before being killed.