No Death for Murderer, Jury Decides

A three-time felon who killed the owner of a Laguna Beach ice cream parlor in 1995 as her husband tried to protect her should get life in prison instead of a death sentence, a jury decided Monday.

Gilberto Corrales Garcia was convicted Dec. 4 of fatally shooting Simindokht Roshdieh, 53, during a botched robbery. She owned the Baskins-Robbins store with her husband.

Garcia, 32, was also found guilty of two special circumstances -- murder in the course of a burglary and in the course of attempted robbery -- making him eligible for execution.

Orange County Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg will sentence Garcia on Jan. 30.

Garcia showed no reaction as the verdict was read. As he was led from the courtroom, Roshdieh’s son, Nick, cursed him for killing his mother. Garcia did not turn around.

Outside the courtroom, an angry Nick Roshdieh said he hoped Garcia ends up dead at the hands of the other prisoners.

Garcia “deserves to die somehow, some way,” Roshdieh said. “Let him sit in jail and rot.”

Simindokht Roshdieh’s daughter, Nilo Pezshki, talked to reporters for several minutes about her late mother’s kindness and her own appreciation that Garcia will not be executed.

“Death is too good for this man,” she said. “It’s the easy way out.”

Defense attorney George Peters said he didn’t know why jurors opted for the lesser sentence, but said they made the right decision.

“Obviously,” he said, “there were some doubts in their minds as to what happened that night that made them want to give him some mercy now.”

Outside the Santa Ana courtroom, jurors declined to speak about their decision.

Garcia had also been convicted of attempted murder for shooting Firooz Roshdieh as he tried to defend his wife with a broom handle.

Roshdieh opted to be a baby-sitter for his grandchildren Monday rather than hear the jury’s verdict.

The murder-robbery rocked the town, whose residents described the couple as caring members of the community who served their ice cream with a smile and gave free scoops to friends.

They often worked 12-hour days, usually seven days a week.

Simindokht Roshdieh was killed Feb. 20, 1995, when Garcia stopped at the Laguna Beach shop after robbing three other businesses, including a Tustin Baskin-Robbins where he was videotaped.

Roshdieh was fatally shot in the throat after Garcia entered her downtown shop, pointed a 9-millimeter pistol at her and ordered her to open the cash register.

Garcia was identified five years later, after Laguna Beach detectives used a database of gang members’ tattoos to match his markings to those of the Tustin ice cream store’s robber.

At the time, Garcia was serving a 25-year prison sentence for a carjacking in Torrance.

He had also been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in San Bernardino.