Man Found Guilty in Killing of Stepfather

A 40-year-old man was quickly convicted Tuesday of shooting his stepfather in the head with the victim’s own rifle in a crime that a prosecutor said was motivated by greed.

It took a jury of eight women and four men less than a day to convict Frank Pina of first-degree murder in the death of 66-year-old Ed Tobin of Fullerton. Pina’s first trial ended with a deadlocked jury.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carolyn Kirkwood, who prosecuted the case, said that Pina killed Tobin for cash and jewelry.

She rejected claims by the defense that Pina was an abuse victim who accidentally shot the victim after being bombarded with racial insults.

“This crime involved the age-old motive of greed,” Kirkwood said. “It’s gratifying to know that the attempts to assassinate the character of the victim and escape responsibility for what amounts to a cold-blooded killing didn’t confuse the jury.”

Deputy Public Defender Tim Severin said he believes his client is only guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

While he does not deny that Pina killed his stepfather, he said the man was provoked into doing it through verbal abuse and his belief that Tobin had mistreated Pina’s mother as she was dying of cancer.

“We conceded that he was guilty of the killing,” Severin said. “But to say this was first-degree murder. . . . I think it’s a bit much.”

Severin found Tuesday’s verdict especially troubling because at the first trial, a jury had deadlocked, 11 to 1, in favor of a second-degree murder conviction.

Pina was living with his stepfather in a Fullerton trailer home at the time of the slaying in 1995.

Kirkwood said during the trial that Pina wanted to inherit some of Tobin’s property and was constantly asking the older man about his will.

Suspicious of his stepson, Tobin bought him a one-way ticket back to Phoenix. But on the day Pina was scheduled to leave, Tobin was shot once in the back of the head.

Pina is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 24 by Superior Court Judge Cecil Hicks.