Defense attorney

Son Convicted of Fatally Stabbing Dad Sentenced to 29 Years to Life

A man convicted of stabbing his father to death and beating an elderly man on a city bus the day before in City Heights was sentenced Friday to 29 years to life in prison.

Ismael Beltran was convicted of first-degree mruder and elder abuse last November 

Beltran's father, Francisco Javier Beltran, was found inside an apartment on the 3600 block of 42nd Street on Oct. 11, 2016.

The 42-year-old victim sustained 10 to 15 stab wounds and later died at the hospital.

Investigators found a bloody knife on top of a refrigerator in the apartment, and a bloody shoe print was located on the dining room floor.

The victim's son, Ismael Beltran, was arrested the next day.

He was taken by his mother to an Otay Mesa-area police station on Oct. 12 and was arrested. The mother was distraught and guilt-ridden, saying that her son was mentally ill, Detective Jonathan Dungan testified.

At the time, Beltran was wanted on a warrant for beating a 72-year-old man inside a city bus, San Diego police said.

George Myrick testified that he was riding the bus near Park Boulevard on Oct. 10, 2016, when Beltran charged him and hit him in the mouth.

"I said, 'What the hell's wrong with you?''' the witness testified.

Myrick said the suspect got off the bus, did a little dance, then got back on and hit him again, repeating that sequence five times.

He said his attacker called him a "pervert'' at one point, but otherwise said nothing.

San Diego police Detective Michael Shervondy testified that the defendant was caught on video hitting the victim 17 times. It appeared he had something in his hand, like a pen, at the time.

The detective said a still shot taken from the video footage on the bus led him to a business where the defendant had worked.

Employees there said Beltran had been doing fine until just before the murder, when he started acting strangely, Shervondy testified.

The employees said Beltran was fired when he refused to take a drug test, according to the detective.

Defense attorney Jane Kinsey urged jurors to find her client guilty of manslaughter.

Kinsey said the defendant showed signs of mental illness and paranoia in 2014 and began acting strangely again days before he killed his father.

A psychiatrist hired by the defense diagnosed Ismael Beltran with chronic schizophrenia, Kinsey told the jury.

Beltran was senteced to three separate terms of 1 year, three years and 25 years to life.

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