A convicted drug dealer accused of killing a 20th Century Fox distribution executive who was having an off-and-on affair with the defendant's estranged wife was convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
John Lenzie Creech, 44, was charged with murder, with a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, for the May 2012 beating death of Gavin Smith, a 57-year-old married father of three, in a West Hills business park. Jurors found him not guilty on counts of first- and second-degree murder, settling on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Creech, who insisted the slaying was done in self-defense, could have faced a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if he was convicted of first-degree murder. He faces up to 11 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 19.
Smith's remains were found in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest in the Antelope Valley about 2 1/2 years after he disappeared.
An eight-woman, four-man jury began deliberating Friday after closing arguments concluded. The panel resumed deliberating Monday, but one male juror failed to show up. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus dismissed the juror, and a female alternate was called to court.
The reconstituted jury -- with nine women and three men -- was ordered to start its deliberations from scratch, which it did around 10 a.m. The verdict was announced about 90 minutes later.
Marcus said he would reach out to the juror who failed to appear in court to determine what happened.
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In his closing argument last week, Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace told the jury that Smith "was executed in cold blood by this defendant, who hit him repeatedly in the face" after using a cell phone with GPS to track down his estranged wife, Chandrika Cade, and sneak up on the two in Smith's Mercedes-Benz.
"You don't accidentally beat someone to death," the prosecutor said in his rebuttal argument shortly before the jury was handed the case Friday.
Defense attorney Irene Nunez told the panel that Creech had made "errors in judgment" by concealing Smith's body and car after lawfully defending himself in a fight that he testified was initiated by Smith, but argued he was not guilty of first-degree murder.
Creech's lawyer acknowledged her client is a "convicted drug seller" but said he "had to fight for his life" after the man who had "intruded" into his life and marriage approached him outside the Mercedes with a weapon following a fistfight between the two men inside the sedan.
"This was a tragic fight between two grown men, two flawed men, two imperfect men," Nunez said. "There was no intention to kill. This was a spontaneous fight."
Acquitting her client would be the "only just verdict," she told the jury.
The prosecutor countered that Creech -- who was taking growth hormones at the time and was an ex-con free on bail -- could "kill with his bare hands" and "deliberately, viciously, intently delivered murderous blows to Gavin Smith repeatedly, which resulted in Gavin Smith's death."
Grace said Creech and Cade had an "unconventional marriage" in which the two "both cheated on each other," and that it was "essentially a countdown to murder" when Creech "first uttered the threat" in 2010 that he would kill Smith if he continued to see Cade.
Creech told the jury that he took "full accountability" for failing to call 911 after what he described as mutual combat or to seek help for Smith, who was a member of UCLA's 1975 NCAA-winning basketball team under Coach John Wooden and had worked for 20th Century Fox for 18 years.
Creech testified that Smith threw the first punch, choked him and tried to gouge out his eye as the two men struggled inside Smith's car -- with the prosecutor later telling jurors that the injuries to Smith and Creech were "not consistent with self-defense" and that Creech's subsequent actions demonstrated a "stunning consciousness of guilt."
