THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday morning, following a day of deliberations, a jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of a Lakeport man who was accused of stabbing his neighbor to death because he wrongly believed the man was a child molester.
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, was found guilty of first-degree murder, burglary and several special allegations for the stabbing death of Michael Dodele.
The jury found him not guilty of a charge of elder abuse.
“They came to the exact same decision that I would have sitting on the jury, knowing what I know,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who prosecuted the case.
Oliver’s sentencing is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, in Lake County Superior Court Department 2.
Hinchcliff said Oliver faces 32 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced.
“Mr. Oliver has asked to file a notice of appeal and I will do that at sentencing,” said defense attorney Stephen Carter, who declined further comment on trial’s outcome.
On Nov. 20, 2007, Oliver had allegedly stabbed the 67-year-old Dodele to death in his trailer at Western Hills Mobile Home Park on Lakeshore Boulevard in Lakeport.
Days earlier, the park manager had told Oliver that Dodele was a child molester after they used the Megan’s Law sex offender registration Web site to look for sex offenders in the area.
Dodele was registered as a sex offender for a 1980s conviction for raping an adult female. He also had several previous convictions for rape and attempted rape. He had lived in the trailer park just a short time after being released from state prison.
Hinchcliff had argued that Oliver stabbed Dodele more than 65 times in a rage. He played a jail interview during the trial in which Oliver told sheriff’s detectives that he had gone to Dodele’s trailer with “murder on my mind.”
Pathologist Dr. Thomas Gill, who testified at trial, had detailed each of the wounds inflicted on Dodele. They had covered Dodele’s face, chest, arms and abdomen.
Carter had argued that Oliver was a concerned father who had gotten into a deadly fight with Dodele after asking him if he had touched Oliver’s young son.
Oliver also took the stand during the trial and told the jury that he was the victim, claiming Dodele had attacked him with a knife.
The jury had begun deliberations on Wednesday morning.
The trial began late last month before retired Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann.
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