Verdict announced in deadly Victorville nightclub shooting in 2006
By Mike Cruz on December 3, 2008 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |
A 21-year-old man was found guilty Tuesday in the 2006 shooting death of a security guard during an altercation at a popular Victorville nightclub.
A jury found Charles Edward Bell guilty of second-degree murder and found true a special allegation for the use of a firearm in the shooting of Maurice Montez McCullough on June 4, 2006 at Club Oasis, in the 15000 block of Ramona Avenue, according to Deputy District Attorney Robert Brown.
Trial proceedings were held before Judge Erik M. Nakata in Victorville Superior Court. Jurors deliberated a little more than a day, in total, to reach the verdict, Brown said.
Brown said he was more than just pleased with the trial outcome. He had watched as the victim's mother attended every day of the trial proceedings.
"I'm more satisfied, just because I know the victim's mom has been suffering for a long time with the death of her son," Brown said, during a brief telephone interview Wednesday.
McCullough, 30, of Los Angeles, was standing outside of the club about 3:15 a.m., when a black Cadillac El Dorado entered the parking lot and pulled up near the front of the business, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
An altercation had occurred in the club, and everyone had been pushed outside, according to prosecutors.
A passenger in the Cadillac fired several gunshots, striking McCullough. The victim died the following day at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, in Colton.
Bell faces 40 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced Dec. 30.
Another defendant, Meldanado Hankins, 25, also faces murder charges in McCullough's shooting, in a separate case. Hankins, who testified during Bell's trial, is set to return to court Jan. 16 for a pretrial hearing, according to court records.
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