LOCAL : Accused Hired Killer Found Not Guilty on Most Charges

Richard L. Rodriguez, 22, on trial in a murder-for-hire case involving an Anaheim couple, was acquitted by an Orange County Superior Court jury in Fullerton today in the killing Owen L. Terry and the wounding of Terry’s wife.

Members of the four-man, eight-woman jury told Superior Court Judge Manuel A. Ramirez they found the defendant not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, attempted murder and burglary. Rodriguez, of Anaheim, was found guilty of three lesser charges--two counts of brandishing a handgun and one count of receiving stolen property.

He was accused of being hired to kill the Terrys by their adopted son, David John Terry, 19. Trial for the son, who has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and burglary, is scheduled to begin this summer.

Owen Terry died after he was shot twice in the head by a burglar on the night of Nov. 28, 1988. Terry’s wife, Pauline, 52, was shot four times in the upper torso.

During the trial, defense attorney Michael Horan argued that Rodriguez’s only role was to act as a middleman to fence property stolen from the Terrys. On the night Owen Terry was fatally shot, Rodriguez was found by police dogs as he hid in a bush at a riverbed near the Terrys’ home. Also found there were a handgun, jewelry and a pair of gloves.

Rodriguez is expected to be sentenced Friday.