The California Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of a Sylmar man who was convicted of first-degree murder for opening fire after an argument and killing an innocent bystander in Long Beach.
The state’s highest court on Wednesday denied the defense’s petition seeking its review of the case of Thomas Terrell McCreary.
McCreary, now 49, is serving an 89-years-to-life term in state prison for the Dec. 1, 2018, killing of 24-year-old Anna Perez, who was struck in the chest by a bullet.
Long Beach police said shortly after the shooting that an argument erupted between two groups of people in a parking lot in the 300 block of Pacific Avenue and that McCreary opened fire.
Anna Perez, 24, of Long Beach. (Courtesy of Brenda Colon)
Perez was fatally shot, even though she had no involvement in the dispute that led to the gunfire, according to police.
McCreary — who had a 2007 conviction for first-degree residential burglary — was arrested just under a week later.
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In a July 17 ruling, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support McCreary’s first-degree murder conviction.
The appellate court panel found that “there is substantial evidence of all of the necessary factors supporting the jury’s finding that defendant acted with premeditation and deliberation.”
The justices noted that jurors “properly found him guilty of first-degree murder upon finding he harbored express malice, an intent to kill, as to his intended target, which transferred to the unintended victim under well-established California law.”