MURRIETA — A felon was found guilty Tuesday of murder in the slaying of a Riverside convenience store clerk during an all-night robbery spree, while a separate jury continued to weigh the fate of the defendant’s co-defendant.
After deliberating one day, a Murrieta jury convicted Roderick Lamar Grandison, 50, of Compton, of first-degree murder and two counts each of armed robbery and firearm assault. Grandison’s jury went behind closed doors Monday to consider evidence from the nearly two-week trial.
Jurors in the concurrent trial of his co-defendant, 33-year-old John Lamont Bush of Los Angeles, started weighing evidence Tuesday afternoon, following closing arguments by the prosecution and defense. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gallon directed Bush’s panel to resume deliberations Wednesday morning.
Bush allegedly gunned down 28-year-old Waqar Tanveer of Fontana in 2020.
The defendant is charged with first-degree murder, three counts of armed robbery, three counts of gun assault, as well as one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He alone is charged with a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery, as well as sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
A third co-defendant, 36-year-old Marleiya Onshel Barnes of Moreno Valley, pleaded guilty in 2021 to three counts of armed robbery and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, Barnes, Bush and Grandison got together in the predawn hours of Feb. 28, 2020, with the intent of perpetrating robberies targeting convenience stores.
With Barnes at the wheel of her sedan, their first stop was a 7-Eleven on Fourth Street in Perris, prosecutors alleged.
At 1:35 a.m., Bush allegedly entered the store, prepared himself a cup of coffee, then went to the counter as if to pay, but instead pulled a compact semiautomatic pistol from his pocket and leveled at the clerk. The…
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