Mission Viejo Patch

Updated: Tombleson Guilty of Manslaughter in Stabbing Deaths

Jurors choose the lesser charge against Justin Tombleson in the deaths of Elvis Kechechian and Hossain Saidian outside an all-night eatery in Lake… Forest.

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Hector Valdez May 23, 2013 at 05:17 pm

Stephen, do not overlook that closing arguments took place on May 14, so jurors have been…Read More deliberating for five full days. Ultimately, yes, they agreed on a verdict, but I would be careful to assume that they all truly agreed with the verdict. Tomorrow there is no court, it is then a holiday weekend, these are factors that unfortunately weigh on jurors and many times convince them to agree on a verdict that they are not necessarily in favor of. Two men lost their lives over this, so suggesting that Tombleson being in jail for the rest of his would somehow be "throwing his life away" is an extremely difficult argument to accept. Didn't he, in fact, needlessly end two lives? Even his lawyer didn't argue against that fact in this case. There are two more upcoming hearings, on June 7 to review Tombleson's prior felony convictions, and on July 12 for sentencing. I don't see how there is not already two strikes against him...one for battery with serious bodily injury and one for assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury. With these two additional convictions he will now have four strikes against him, which will carry a mandatory 25 years to life sentence. One could argue, and likely will argue, that these should apply to both voluntary manslaughter convictions; therefore, 50 years to life should be the minimum sentence. Let's also not forget the two enhancements for use of a dangerous/deadly weapon which should carry additional time...just to give a realistic view of what to expect over the next couple of months in this case, I wouldn't be surprised to see a sentence in the 60-75 year range. Let's just hope that whatever the sentence is that it prevents anyone else from needlessly being hurt or killed.

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MFriedrich May 23, 2013 at 05:11 pm

Man. Two strikes from assaults/battery. I don't know why I would be out drinking to excess at 2:00…Read More a.m. and then driving around with my so called friends either. I probably wouldn't trust anyone, but least of all myself. And that all assumes that I had some sense of self-awareness in the first place (i.e. I know have a temper, I get jealous, I lose control, I get drunk, I get violent, I get into fights,). If you acknowledge these things, then you can change behavior. You have a chance. When you don't or can't, then you're pretty much doomed eventually it seems to me.

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Martin Henderson (Editor) May 23, 2013 at 04:53 pm

I just spoke to a former gang prosecutor who indicated Tombleson likely would have to do 85 percent…Read More of the time for which he is convicted. With at least one previous strike, the sentence could be doubled. With a second victim, it could be doubled again. So, if the 6 years that MFriedrich mentioned is correct, and let's say the judge chose the middle figure, that would be 24 years; 85 percent would be 20 years mandatory incarceration. This is all stuff that will be determined later, but that's the way it was explained to me. If Tombleson's previous assaults count as two strikes then this would be the third and it's a whole different deal. But if I had two strikes on me, there would be no room in my life for bravado.

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