A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld a man’s conviction for murdering two people at a burger restaurant in a Harbor City strip mall, including the longtime owner of the popular neighborhood eatery.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the evidence against Joey Alfred Mendoza that included “devastating recorded admissions” is “overwhelming.”
Mendoza, now 27, was convicted of one count of first-degree murder for the Oct. 12, 2016, shooting death of Louis Garcia, 23, of Wilmington, and one count of second-degree murder of Charalambos Antonelos, 61, of San Pedro, who owned Bob’s Hamburgers.
Jurors also found true the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with gun allegations.
Mendoza was arrested by Los Angeles police a day after the killings and has remained behind bars since then.
In sentencing Mendoza to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2023, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Laura Laesecke told the defendant — who was 18 at the time of the shooting — that he “spent so long thinking about how you were going to kill.”
The judge said that was “not the behavior of a child” but was “true premeditation.”
She told Mendoza that the killing occurred at a neighborhood restaurant that “sort of feels like home and you destroyed that,” noting that Antonelos was known for giving burgers to those who couldn’t afford to pay for them.
The judge said that she believes Mendoza is a danger to the community and that she thinks he deserves to stay in prison, although he will eventually be entitled a youthful offender parole hearing that could result in his release given his age at the time of the crime.
Mendoza opened fire on Garcia — his intended target — after spotting him inside the restaurant about three days after the two had a dispute that nearly escalated to a physical fight, according to Deputy District Attorney John Chang.
“Our theory is that the defendant went back for revenge,” the prosecutor said after the sentencing, noting that Garcia was shot and killed while standing in line.
Antonelos — also known as “Bob” — was trying to clear the restaurant when he was fatally shot, the prosecutor said. He had just retired the day before he was killed, but had agreed to come in that day, according to Chang.
The gunman’s face was covered during the attack.
Mendoza was subsequently identified through surveillance video, witness statements and “gang intelligence,” according to a statement released by the Los Angeles Police Department shortly after the crime.
The defendant’s family members maintained outside court after the sentencing that Mendoza is innocent and has been wrongly convicted of murder. His mother, Eunice Villegas, noted that he had “not one criminal record,” and said that she felt the case had not been properly investigated.
During the sentencing hearing, Garcia’s mother told Mendoza, “I can’t say I forgive you now. … But maybe one day I will.”
Some of Garcia’s other family members said they have already forgiven the defendant.
In a letter read in court by the prosecutor, Antonelos’ niece wrote that she and her sister had to go to the crime scene and pick up her uncle’s belongings in the restaurant he had worked so hard to build. She said she saw all of the blood splattered in the restaurant, writing that the scene is “something I’ll never get out of my head.”
She called her uncle a “pillar of the community” who had been living the American dream after immigrating from Greece and “built up his business” with love.
“He was like family to a lot of these people,” she wrote. “They loved him.”
Antonelos’ niece noted that her uncle wasn’t even supposed to be at the restaurant that day and was “ready to spend the rest of his life taking it easy.”