Man convicted of murder in shotgun slaying of woman from Morro Bay

A businessman accused of fatally shooting a woman on a Hollywood street last year in an ambush over a disputed wage bill was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder.

Jurors deliberated about a day before finding Ezeoma Chigozie Obioha guilty, ending a mystery over the brazen slaying of Carrie Jean Melvin, who grew up in Morro Bay. The 30-year-old was killed by a shotgun blast at close range as she and her boyfriend walked to get food on a summer evening.

As the clerk read the verdict, the victim’s father closed his eyes and cried quietly into his hands. One row back, the defendant’s sister’s eyes widened and she mouthed, “what?” in disbelief.

The defendant stared ahead, expressionless.

Outside the courtroom, Bernard Melvin spoke in a hushed voice, saying he hoped people would remember his daughter and that he felt great compassion for the defendant’s family.

“There’s nothing to celebrate here,” he said. “I lost my daughter, and a young man is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. That’s nothing to celebrate.”

Carrie Jean Melvin attended Del Mar Elementary School, Los Osos Middle School and Morro Bay High School, taking a high school proficiency test at age 15 and earning straight A’s later at Cuesta College.

Jamon Hicks, one of Obioha’s attorneys, said outside the courtroom that his client was saddened and hurt by the verdict, adding that he plans to file an appeal.

“They got the wrong guy,” he said. “He didn’t do it.”

Hicks pointed out that his client always came to court with a big stack of papers — the result of copious research on the case.

“I’ve never had such an engaged client in my life,” Hicks said. “To me, that was a sign of an innocent man.”

During closing arguments last week, a prosecutor portrayed Obioha, 32, as a scorned suitor who also was upset that Melvin filed a claim against him for money he owed her.

Days before the killing, Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee told jurors, Obioha had been notified that Melvin filed a claim with the state Labor Commission after his $1,620 check — for 87 hours of work she did marketing his clothing line on social media — bounced. The prosecutor said the victim also spurned Obioha’s romantic interest in her.

“She gave him a smackdown,” Hanisee said. “She rejected and challenged him.”

The morning after the July 5, 2015, killing, a boy playing on the beach in Malibu found Obioha’s Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun under a rock. Lying nearby was an unusual shotgun shell, identical to an expended shell found at the crime scene: a white Rio Royal Grand 12-gauge, 00 buck shell with the head stamp “globalshot.com.”

Defense attorneys suggested that both shotgun shells, as well as the gun, were planted. A blast from a Rio Royal shell would have caused more wounds to the victim’s face, they argued.

Obioha’s mother, Pauline Obioha, told jurors last week that her son was at home the night of the murder. She helped him bathe his two children before he put them to bed, she said, around the same time authorities say he was driving to Malibu to get rid of the gun.

Hicks asked Obioha’s mother whether she was lying to protect her son.

“That’s the one thing I wouldn’t do for any of my kids,” Pauline Obioha told jurors. “I wouldn’t lie.”

Hanisee used her final words to jurors to poke holes in the defense arguments, suggesting that Obioha’s family lied and fabricated evidence to protect him.

“Every scrap of evidence that points to anyone points to him,” Hanisee said.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Man convicted of murder in shotgun slaying of woman from Morro Bay."