By Kim Minugh
kminugh@sacbee.com
James Ray Alden told a Sacramento Superior Court jury last week that he was passed out on his friend's porch - drunk and stoned and oblivious to the world - when Richard Seeger was stabbed to death in Carmichael Park.
He told jurors that when his friend, Bobby Brady, accused him in the back of a patrol car of killing the homeless man, he didn't deny anything because he was intimidated. After all, he told the jury, Brady was a violent felon - and the real murderer.
The jury didn't buy Alden's story, and returned today with a first-degree murder conviction for the 37-year-old man, according to the District Attorney's office. They also found Alden guilty of robbery, and found true a special circumstance that the murder was committed during the course of a robbery.
The jury didn't buy Alden's story, and returned today with a first-degree murder conviction for the 37-year-old man, according to the District Attorney's office. They also found Alden guilty of robbery, and found true a special circumstance that the murder was committed during the course of a robbery.
Alden will be sentenced Feb. 25 by Judge Allen Sumner. He faces life without the possibility of parole for Seeger's April 9, 2009, death.
Seeger was homeless at the time, living out of his car. Deputy District Attorney Rick Miller argued that Alden stabbed the man in the back, then stole his car and belongings. He brought the items back to an apartment belonging to Brady's brother, where Brady and Alden - both recently released from prison - were staying.
Brady was charged with murder and robbery, but the charges eventually were dropped. Earlier this month, he pleaded no contest to a felony count of receiving stolen property -- that of the victim -- and landed a six-year prison term.
Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.
Read more:
Videotape of suspect takes murder trial spotlight
Defendant denies role in 2009 Carmichael Park death
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