2 of 3 Guilty of ’93 Torture, Murder of Man

SANTA ANA — Two of the three men accused of torturing and murdering another man and dumping his body into a Long Beach channel were found guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder and torture.

Gregory Jason Chandler, 23, of Long Beach and Christopher David Scott, 22, of Buena Park face life in prison without the possibility of parole. Rami Sabbara, 21, of La Palma was acquitted of all charges.

Prosecutors alleged that Buena Park resident Carlos Salanova, 18, was attacked in February 1993 at the La Palma home of another 20-year-old. Scott brought Salanova to a weekend party there because Chandler, unbeknownst to Salanova, was already there and had a quarrel to pick with him involving drugs.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park said in court that Salanova was bound to a chair with duct tape, beaten with wire hangers and hung with a rope from a rafter in the garage. Eventually, Park said, the defendants put Salanova’s body in a trash bag and dumped it into the Cerritos Channel in Long Beach.

Outside the courtroom in Orange County Superior Court, Park said she could only speculate why the jury acquitted Sabbara, but was pleased with the verdict for Chandler and Scott.

“The jury has worked very hard on this case,” Park said. “They evaluated everything, then they were able to reach this decision.”

Defense attorney Thomas M. Goethals, who represented Chandler, said that the testimony of a witness about Chandler’s involvement in disposing of the body was tough to overcome.

“And the facts in this case were just too ugly; I knew that from the beginning,” he said. “I think the jury worked very hard to get past the emotions of this case, but I think that was just too hard.”

Sabbara’s attorney, James W. Brot, said the district attorney’s theory never actually included his client in the actual killing.

Sabbara “was just at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, using drugs,” he said.

The jury foreman, who requested anonymity, said reaching a decision for Sabbara was difficult, but that in the end there wasn’t enough evidence to find him guilty. As family members and friends wept after the verdict was read, she said she was fighting back her own tears.

“These are kids who really didn’t have a chance to start their lives in a good way,” she said. “It was very very hard for all of us to prosecute them. But we also had to think of Carlos. He didn’t have that chance, either.”

Families and friends of all three defendants were present at the verdict--many bursting into tears as the verdicts were read.

“I’m just thanking God, because this is the truth,” said Siham Sabbara, mother of Sabbara. “He wasn’t involved.”

Scott and Chandler will be sentenced in Orange County Superior Court on June 20.