Youth’s Killer Deserves to Die, Jurors Decide

A jury on Thursday recommended the death sentence for an Egyptian immigrant convicted of molesting and killing a 12-year-old La Habra boy before encasing his dismembered body in concrete chunks.

The jury took less than five hours to decide, with some panelists describing the deliberations as emotionally wrenching. Several jurors wept as they left the courthouse.

“We all agreed on the penalty, but it’s hard to put someone to death,” said one juror, who declined to give his name.

Juror Richard Green of Fullerton said he and his colleagues won’t soon forget the graphic elements of the trial, especially the details of how John Samuel Ghobrial, 31, tried to dispose of Juan Delgado’s body parts in large chunks of concrete that leaked blood. Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan will sentence Ghobrial on March 21.

He said some jurors were so disgusted that they refused to look at some of the crime scene photos.

Showing no emotion, Ghobrial stared ahead in court as each juror confirmed his or her vote in favor of the death sentence.

During the two-week trial, defense attorneys acknowledged that Ghobrial played a role in Juan’s 1998 death. But they insisted the killing was not premeditated.

They also argued that the one-armed immigrant had a “deformed brain” and suffered from schizophrenia.

To help suggest a pattern of behavior, prosecutors last week brought to the stand a young cousin of Ghobrial who said he almost suffered the same fate as Juan seven years earlier in Egypt when the defendant beat and stabbed him.

“Ghobrial is a pathetic figure,” prosecutor David Brent said outside of the courtroom Thursday. “He is very evil and is out for his own selfish desires.”

Assistant Public Defender Denise Gragg, who represented Ghobrial, could not be reached for comment.

After allegedly assaulting his cousin in the mid-1990s, Ghobrial fled Egypt. 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 landed in La Habra. He had no job, but some residents were touched by his disability and tried to help him.

One family rented him a backyard shed. Ghobrial became known in the neighborhood for giving candy to children.

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

Authorities say Ghobrial carved up the boy with a meat cleaver. Four days after Juan disappeared, 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.

Ghobrial’s trial was delayed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when his attorneys questioned whether a man from a Middle Eastern country could receive a fair trial.

Juror Green said there was no hint of prejudice on the panel.

“They selected a group of people that I was very proud to be a part of,” Green said.

“I think we weighed it; that’s what you’re supposed to do. And I think we were fair about that.”

Since 1992, 12 killers have been executed on San Quentin’s death row, including three from Orange County.