Man Acquitted In Fatal Party Shooting

SAN DIEGO -- A 72-year-old businessman was acquitted of first-degree murder Monday in the fatal shooting of a man attending a party at a social hall the defendant owned.

But Virgil Gordon still faces charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault and negligent use of a firearm because jurors deadlocked on those counts.

Judge John Einhorn declared a mistrial on the unresolved counts and scheduled a May 30 hearing, at which time prosecutors are expected to announce whether they will retry the defendant on those charges.

Outside court, Gordon's attorney, Paul Pfingst, said he hoped the District Attorney's Office would be guided by the fact that the overwhelming majority of jurors believed Gordon did not commit a murder or manslaughter.

Pfingst said Gordon was a respected businessman who had "no motive whatsoever to harm anyone that night."

But witnesses for the prosecution said Gordon shot 39-year-old Silverio Rivera Cruz when people at the Southcrest Cultural Arts Center wouldn't leave the party about 1:30 a.m. on July 16, 2006.

Deputy District Attorney David Berry told jurors that Gordon chose to pull out and use a loaded .357 Magnum on the victim rather than call for help on his cell phone.

When the victim approached the defendant and tried to get him to calm down, Gordon hit him twice on the head, cracking his skull, then shot him in the neck at close range, Berry said.

Berry said Rivera Cruz spoke limited English and could not communicate well.

The woman who signed the rental agreement at Gordon's Southcrest Cultural Center said Gordon told her the day before the party, "I have a gun. I'll shoot if everyone's not out by 2 a.m."

The woman said Gordon was smiling when he made the comment, and she thought that he was joking, according to the prosecutor.

When Gordon began asking guests to leave, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at several people, including a 10-year-old boy, Berry alleged.

The resulting child abuse charge was dismissed by the judge at the end of the prosecution's case because of an insufficient showing of mental suffering, Berry said.

Pfingst told the jury his client acted in self-defense after he was "savagely beaten" by a group of men, including being hit by folding chairs, causing Gordon to bleed from the head.

Pfingst said Gordon was cornered by several men, most of whom had been drinking at the Quinceanera, a tradition celebration for Latina girls turning 15.

The victim's blood-alcohol level was measured at .20 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving a vehicle.

Pfingst said Gordon moved to California in his late teens and had a ninth-grade education.

The defendant was a concrete mason, then worked in lumberyards, and got into developing buildings like his cultural center in Southcrest, his attorney said.

The gun used in the shooting had belonged to Gordon for about 30 years, Pfingst said. The attorney said Gordon kept the gun because he did a lot of work in gang-ridden areas and dealt with large amounts of cash.

"I feel great," Gordon said after he was acquitted of first-degree murder. "This has been a two-year ordeal -- for nothing."

Gordon said the case hasn't affected his business dealings in Southcrest, where he caters to mostly Hispanic clientele, although he has remorse and is a stronger person for having gone through it.

The defendant could have faced a sentence of 50 years to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.