2 Guilty, 1 Acquitted in 1997 Slaying at Party

VAN NUYS —  Jurors convicted two men of murder Friday but acquitted a third defendant in the 1997 stabbing death of a young man at a Woodland Hills party.

“We’re happy, but no matter what, it doesn’t bring our son back,” said Vicki Arriola of Canoga Park, the mother of 20-year old victim Jason Shaw.

It was the second time Michael Baker, 22, and Christopher Bryan Paonessa, 21, were convicted of the murder. Their earlier convictions were overturned by an appellate court.

Baker, 22, and Paonessa, 21, also were found guilty of the attempted murder of Daniel Parkison, a friend of Shaw who was stabbed six times during the birthday party Shaw had thrown at his house in honor of a friend.

The third defendant, Dino Ferrari Riggio, 21, wept as he heard a clerk read not guilty verdicts on all major counts. Later the jury found him guilty of conspiracy to commit assault, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Tricia Ann Bigelow gave him credit for time served and ordered him released on probation.

In the first trial, Riggio had been convicted of second-degree murder and received 15 years to life.

On March 1, 1997, Baker tried to enter the party but refused to pay the cash admission at the door, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino said. Later, he was beaten up and thrown out because of an argument with Shaw over laughing gas, which some guests had been inhaling.

Vowing revenge, Baker returned with Paonessa, Riggio and eight other youths and burst inside.

After he was confronted in his own bedroom, Shaw swung at Baker with a bat but missed, and was stabbed twice. He staggered into his backyard and died.

Last year, the state Court of Appeal found that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt had erred in his jury instructions, including his refusal to give jurors the options of verdicts of voluntary manslaughter and self-defense.