People vs. Peter G. Espinoza

Finally Justice For Alan Doyle, a 16-year-old star wrestler at Esperanza High in Anaheim when he was stabbed in Corona in 1997.
Peter G Espinoza, a U.S. citizen who had just turned 18, fled to Mexico charged with first-degree murder, which would bring a sentence of 25 years to life. In her opening statement yesterday, Espinoza's attorney, Judith Gweon, said he did kill Doyle, but was drunk. The crime wasn't premeditated or committed with malice, she says, so he should be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. That brings a sentence of between two and four years. A second-degree conviction, also an option, would bring 16 years to life.
Espinoza, now 25, a pudgy man with closely cropped black hair, sat to the right of his attorney at the defense table. He wore a gray, short-sleeve shirt, necktie and black trousers. I never saw a scintilla of emotion in his meaty, clean-shaven face.
Representing the state is a businesslike prosecutor named Jeanne Roy. Sitting to her right was Detective Ron Anderson, a 26-year Corona cop who worked the case from the start and was determined to bring Espinoza in before he retired to an Idaho trout lake. He did get him – due in part to research in Baja on his own dime, U.S. marshals and international relationships he'd rather not divulge.
Alan Doyle was well-represented in the spectators' seats by his father, David, and a brother, both of whom live in O.C.; several relatives who flew in from Fort Wayne, Ind.; and a handful of his high school friends. And, of course, Rizzi. Witnesses included four friends who watched him dying on the sidewalk at a Corona mall.
Only Roy's case was put on yesterday, but the biggest disputes appear to be over whether Espinoza was drunk, as his lawyer contends, and whether, as the prosecutor contends, he told his mother just days before that he wanted to "kill someone."
Witnesses say Doyle and his buddies, dressed in black death-metal garb, got out of the concert of a band called Obituary about 1 a.m. Nov. 30, 1997, and decided to walk to a nearby Del Taco.
There they encountered four boys in a white car, one of whom allegedly yelled at them, "Devil worshipers must die." Doyle and his friends started walking back to the concert hall. About halfway back, up rolled the same car and out came Espinoza, running toward them.
"Where are you from?" he said as he approached Doyle. Before Doyle could answer, Espinoza thrust a knife into his torso once, then turned and ran back to the car, which sped away. Doyle's aorta was almost completely severed. Three friends ran to find a pay phone. One, Joel Calvert, stayed behind, held Doyle's hand and futilely tried to stop the bleeding.
"He said he knew he was going to die," Calvert testified. "The last thing he said was, 'I'll see you on the other side.'"
Roy repeatedly asked witnesses – including one of Espinoza's friends – whether it appeared Espinoza was drunk, whether he stumbled when he ran. No, they said. Detective Anderson testified that three days after the murder, Espinoza's mother told him that her son had told her the prior week that "he was really angry and wanted to kill someone." On the stand yesterday, she denied saying that.
I don't know how Gweon will show Espinoza was drunk, but she did say she will call an expert to talk about how, when someone is intoxicated, "part of the brain becomes numb to the senses (that people) can act without thinking."
Rizzi was stoic throughout, even during autopsy testimony that had others sobbing. Later, in the hallway, she explained, "I've had eight years to deal with it."