Jury gets case against man charged with killing woman, wounding her husband

Jurors were handed the case Friday against a Riverside County man charged with murder and other counts for allegedly killing a woman who was holding her 2-year-old son and seriously injuring the woman’s husband at the couple’s home in Long Beach.

John Kevin McVoy Jr., now 40, of Corona, is charged with murder for the Jan. 10, 2017, shooting death of 33-year-old Susan Garcia, along with two counts of attempted murder involving the woman’s husband, Victor, and their young son, who was not struck by the gunfire. He is also charged with a count of child endangerment involving the toddler.

Deputy District Attorney Irene Lee told jurors in her closing argument Friday that there was “very strong evidence” against McVoy and urged the panel to convict him of all four charges, while defense attorney Ninaz Saffari countered that the prosecution “did not prove their case of murder, attempted murder or child endangerment beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The prosecutor told jurors that McVoy “absolutely lied to you” about previous threats he testified that Victor Garcia — with whom he was in a garage band — had made against him, and that his account of what had happened makes “no sense” when all of the other evidence is considered.

“There are no prior threats. This is all made up,” the prosecutor said of the defendant’s claim.

“He’s the one that made this something else … There was no imminent danger at the time,” Lee told the panel.

The prosecutor said the defendant fired “kill shots” — not warning shots — in what was “not a heated situation.”

McVoy’s attorney alleged that police “didn’t do a thorough investigation” before turning the case over to the District Attorney’s Office two days after the killing and that they “didn’t want to hear his side of the story.”

“They don’t have motive. They don’t have intent,” Saffari said of the prosecution’s case. “They haven’t proven it.”

The defense lawyer told jurors that her client is a “nice guy” who “gets along with everyone.”

“He’s telling the truth about what happened that day,” she said of her client’s testimony.

In his second day on the stand Thursday, McVoy maintained that he brought the loaded handgun to the home because Victor Garcia had shown him a shotgun and “made a threat” in early December 2016.

The defendant told jurors Thursday that he had gone to the home to talk with Victor Garcia, and called what happened a “tragic event” and the “most horrible outcome you can imagine.”

McVoy testified Wednesday that he shot Victor Garcia after the man threatened him with a can opener after making racially and politically charged comments during President Barack Obama’s televised farewell speech, according to the Press-Telegram.

McVoy testified that the gun went off again as one of Garcia’s friends struggled with him, with that shot striking Susan Garcia before one of the men beat him and another kicked him, according to the newspaper.

McVoy was arrested later the next day by Long Beach police. He has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.

Jurors spent about 1 1/2 hours in deliberations Friday afternoon and are due back at the Long Beach courthouse Monday to continue discussing the case.

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