A 34-year-old man was convicted today of first-degree murder for the December 2012 shooting deaths of two men and two women outside a Northridge boarding house for which he could now face a potential death sentence.
The Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Ka Pasasouk guilty of the Dec. 2, 2012, killings of Teofilo Navales, 49, of Castaic; Robert Calabia, 34, of Los Angeles; Amanda Ghossein, 24, of Monterey Park; and Jennifer Kim, 26, of Montebello.
Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with allegations that he personally discharged a handgun during the crimes.
The seven-woman, five-man panel also convicted Pasasouk of one count each of attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon, along with assault with a semiautomatic firearm involving five other people confronted by Pasasouk nearby shortly before the killings.
Judge Larry Paul Fidler ordered jurors to return to court Dec. 2 -- the third anniversary of the killings -- for the start of the trial's penalty phase, in which they will be asked to recommend whether Pasasouk should be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Outside the jury's presence, the defendant told the judge that he was "requesting for the death penalty.''
In his closing argument Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon called the evidence against Pasasouk "overwhelming.'' "Defendant Ka Pasasouk was a walking recipe for disaster, a powder keg ready to explode,'' Akemon told the jury.
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The prosecutor told jurors that the defendant was "fueled by drugs and alcohol'' and had the "perfect opportunity for vengeance'' along with the perfect opportunity for a robbery when he came across Navales -- with whom he had an altercation months earlier -- in a dark and confined area and shot him twice.
Akemon told jurors that Calabia, Ghossein and Kim were shot to death to silence them as potential witnesses as Pasasouk was "trying to get away with murder.''
The four victims planned to meet a friend who lived at the boarding house and then head to a casino to gamble, the deputy district attorney said. "Mr. Pasasouk shot four people in the head in the dark and they were all moving targets,'' the prosecutor said, calling it a case of "expert marksmanship'' by Pasasouk.
One of Pasasouk's attorneys, James Goldstein, had urged jurors to consider the lesser offense of second-degree murder for the four killings. He told the panel that his client's judgment was "impaired'' by being under the influence and that he could not have premeditated and deliberated the killings.
"You had somebody out there that night that was severely affected by methamphetamine and alcohol. That remains unchallenged,'' the defense attorney said.
"The truth of the matter is he was so impaired he could not entertain the specific intent that's required by first-degree murder,'' Goldstein said.
The defense attorney questioned the order in which the victims were shot, saying that there was no evidence that Navales was the first one to be attacked. He also attacked the credibility of the prosecution's key witness, who was Pasasouk's girlfriend at the time of the killings.
Pasasouk was arrested two days later at a hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Strip and has remained in jail since then.
Last year, family members of the victims filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and Probation Chief Jerry Powers, alleging that they didn't do enough to protect the public from Pasasouk once he was released from prison in January 2012.
Following a subsequent arrest for drug possession, Pasasouk was released from custody and put into a drug diversion program, despite a long criminal history, according to the plaintiffs' attorney.
A judge dismissed the civil rights case in August, ruling that the government officials were immune from liability.
