Man's Murder Conviction Upheld For 72-Year-Old LA County Man's Killing

LOS ANGELES, CA — A state appeals court Wednesday upheld a man's conviction for the murder of a 72-year-old Marina del Rey resident whose burned body was discovered in a dry lake bed in San Bernardino County.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's contention that there was insufficient evidence to support John Schiefer's first-degree murder conviction.

Schiefer, now 45, was found guilty along with co-defendant Shavonne Webster, now 47, in William Webb's August 2019 killing.

The victim's former stepdaughter, Haena Worthing, now 51, was initially charged with murder. She pleaded guilty to the lesser count of voluntary manslaughter, according to the appellate court panel's 14-page ruling.

Webb's body was found Aug. 16, 2019, in a dry lake bed near Sunway Road and Rosehedge Avenue in the Joshua Tree area.

A forensic pathologist identified between 15 and 20 lacerations on the back of the victim's head, and opined that the damage was done with a hammer or some other tool consistent with a hammer, according to the ruling.

"Substantial evidence supports the jury's finding that appellant personally premeditated and deliberated the murder," the panel found. "The jury reasonably inferred that, prior to the confrontation with William in the hallway, appellant had planned to kill William with the hammer."

The justices noted that a close friend of both Schiefer and Worthing testified at a court hearing that Schiefer and Webster had moved a few days before the killing into the Marina del Rey home where Worthing and her daughter were living and that Schiefer told him that Webb kept harassing Webster for money behind his back and was trying to charge them to stay there. The friend testified that Schiefer told him he was going to "nail" the victim with a hammer, according to the ruling.

Schiefer told an undercover operative during a jailhouse proceeding that he was "choking" the victim and that his girlfriend — Webster — hit the victim 15 times in the head with a hammer as he held the victim down, according to the ruling.

Schiefer maintained during his testimony in his own defense that he and Webster were inside Webb's home when he told them they had to move out, and that the victim had tried to attack him, according to the ruling.

The defendant testified that he did not want the man to die, but admitted that he owned the hammer, the justices noted.

Jurors found not true an allegation that Schiefer personally used a hammer, but found true that allegation against Webster, according to the ruling.

Schiefer and Webster are serving potential life prison terms.

Webster's appeal is still pending.

City News Service