No Verdict to be Announced this Week in 2007 Altadena Shooting Case

There will not be a verdict announced this week in the case of a 2007 fatal shooting that took place in Altadena.

Mesha Arshaz Dean stands accused of shooting and killing Monroe Miles, 32, of Altadena after she and  her girlfriend, Vanessa Marie Ochoa, attempted to take Ochoa's child from his father's home on Canyon Dell Drive and bring him back to Las Vegas to live with Ochoa.  She has also been charged with kidnapping and child endangerment.

Closing arguments in the case were presented earlier this week and jury deliberations started on Tuesday.  However, the jury is not meeting today, and will reconvene on Monday, according to Ed Murphy, Dean's lawyer.

Murphy also noted that the jury took the somewhat unusual step of stopping deliberations to ask for further instruction on the definition of second degree murder.  The prosecutor in the case, Tamu Usher, discussed the case for both first and second degree murder in her closing arguments.

Monroe Miles, the victim, was Ochoa's son's nephew.  He had been watching the child and attempted to stop them from taking him back. After Dean shot Miles, Ochoa and Dean fled back to Nevada as police put up an "Amber alert" and listed Ochoa's son as a missing child.

Ochoa had left the boy with the Miles family after she left his father, Mark Miles, with the understanding that she would take him back after she established a new life in Henderson, Nevada.  At that point, she began a relationshop with Dean.

Murphy argued in his closing arguments that the Miles family's disapproval of their homosexual relationship and anger over Ochoa leaving Mark Miles, led Monroe Miles to start a physical confrontation with Ochoa and Dean.  He has argued that Dean should be acquitted of all charges on the ground that she shot Miles in self-defense.

Murphy told Patch Friday that the fact that the jury asked for more instruction on second-degree murder could indicate they do not believe that Dean intended to abduct the child.  If Dean were to be found of kidnapping, she would also likely be found guilty of first degree murder on the grounds that she shot someone in the act of committing another felony.

For more on the case, please read our account of closing arguments that took place on Monday: