State Supreme Court Won't Hear Case Against Woman Convicted of Altadena Killing

The California Supreme Court refused today to review the case against a woman convicted of fatally shooting a man on an Altadena street during a confrontation over his 4-year-old nephew.

Mesha Arshaz Dean was found guilty in March 2012 of second-degree murder for the March 18, 2007, killing of Monroe "Monty" Miles.

Dean was the girlfriend of the boy's mother, Vanessa Marie Ochoa, and had accompanied her to a home where the tot was living with his father and his grandparents.

During Dean's trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney Tamu Usher told jurors that she "drove from Nevada to California with Ochoa by her side, a loaded firearm and one intent in mind -- to take (the child) from his father without his permission and without his knowledge."

The boy's father -- who was out of town -- had left his brother a note authorizing him to take care of his son, and Miles followed Ochoa to try to stop her from putting the child in Dean's car.

"Right after he said the words, 'You're not taking my nephew,' he was shot and killed by the defendant," the prosecutor told jurors.

The boy was found two days later with the two women, who were arrested.

Along with murder, Dean was convicted of kidnapping and child endangerment.

In a ruling Feb. 4, a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's claims that there were errors in Dean's trial and her ensuing sentence of 49 years and four months to life in state prison.

Ochoa pleaded guilty in August 2010 to voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping and child abuse, and was sentenced in April 2012 to 15 years in state prison.

—City News Service