Former Teacher Convicted of ’89 O.C. Murder
A former math teacher at Belmont High School in Los Angeles was convicted Monday of gunning down a party crasher 14 years ago while hosting a party for college friends at his parents’ Mission Viejo home.
Mark Glen Morales, 36, could face 15 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 7 by Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank Fasel for the murder of Steven Merritt, 21.
An earlier trial had ended with a deadlocked jury.
Merritt’s death occurred after a 1989 party Morales had at his parent’s home. Merritt and some friends angered Morales when they ridiculed the salsa music he was playing.
Morales emerged as a suspect at the time of the slaying but left the country before investigators could make a case against him. He returned to the United States about seven years later, becoming a popular ninth-grade math teacher.
He was arrested in March 2000 after an Orange County Sheriff’s Department cold-case squad resumed the investigation.
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