Man Found Guilty of Attempted Murder

Paul G. Alleyne stared straight ahead Wednesday as an Orange County Superior Court jury found him guilty of attempted murder in what authorities described as a botched contract hit last year in San Clemente.

This was the second time Alleyne was tried on attempted murder and other charges in connection with the April 1996 shooting that left San Clemente businessman James Wengert with a broken jaw and five shattered teeth after taking a bullet in the mouth. The first jury deadlocked.

“I am very relieved it is over,” Wengert said during a telephone interview from his office after learning of the jury’s decision.

Alleyne, 33, was also found guilty of robbery, conspiracy to commit murder and other allegations. Sentencing is set for July 11. Alleyne’s attorney, Federico Sayre, said his client faces a possible life sentence.

The defense argued unsuccessfully that Alleyne did not fit the original description of the shooter. “I think they got the wrong guy,” said Sayre, who said he intends to appeal the conviction.

But Wengert testified at both trials, identifying Alleyne as his assailant.

Prosecutors allege deep debt and a Huntington Beach loan company is behind the Wengert shooting and at least two fatalities.

Alleyne was $30,000 in debt to Premium Commercial Services Corp., and was ordered to help pay off the money by attacking Wengert, a private investigator who was also deeply in debt to the company, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Glazier said.

Authorities believe Coleman Allen, the former head of Premium, orchestrated the shootings. Allen died last year of natural causes.