Barton Guilty of Manslaughter for Shot in Back : Trial: Jury finds realtor from La Jolla guilty of manslaughter in the killing of a construction worker he shot after a quarrel.

La Jolla resident Howard Barton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter Friday in the shooting death of Marco Sanchez, a National City construction worker who was shot in the back after a minor traffic dispute between Sanchez and Barton’s daughter.

The verdict was reached by a Superior Court jury that deliberated for nearly two weeks and came one year to the day after Sanchez, 24, was killed. The same jury also cleared Barton, 48, of first- and second-degree murder charges.

Barton, a Pacific Beach realtor, had his $1-million bail revoked by Judge William D. Mudd, who ordered him remanded to the downtown County Jail. He will be sentenced by Mudd on March 22. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Chappell said that Barton could receive up to 16 years in state prison.

The burly ex-Marine showed no emotion over the verdict. He was immediately handcuffed by marshals but allowed a brief consultation inside the courtroom with his wife and daughter, Andrea Barton. Standing on opposite sides of the banister, the family was not allowed any physical contact by marshals.

An anguished Andrea Barton, whose trial testimony was filled with inconsistencies, sobbed loudly after the verdict was read.

“Oh, Daddy! I can’t touch him,” she cried at one point.

In an interview with homicide investigators on the day of the shooting, Andrea Barton, 21, blamed herself for causing the incident.

Andrea Barton and other family members declined to talk with reporters after the verdict.

Sanchez’s widow, Gloria, expressed displeasure with the jury’s verdict and said Barton should have been convicted of first-degree murder.

“I don’t believe it. We waited all this time. It’s a year to the day since Marco’s been gone. Barton deserved to get (a) first-degree (conviction),” she said in a hallway meeting with reporters.

Sanchez, who gave birth to a daughter about two weeks after her husband’s death, threw herself on the courthouse floor and began to cry loudly. She then got up and ran through the third-floor hallway, still sobbing.

Defense attorney Milt Silverman insisted afterward that Barton was innocent. The defense version of the shooting portrayed Barton, who had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, as acting in self-defense when Sanchez allegedly threatened him with a knife.

However, prosecutor Chappell hammered away at Barton’s self-defense argument during the trial. She called several witnesses who testified that Barton was the aggressor throughout the confrontation and who said that Sanchez was unarmed when he was shot.

Chappell emphasized to the jury that Sanchez was shot in the back while trying to get away from Barton.

The deadly confrontation began in Pacific Beach on the morning of Feb. 22, 1990, when Andrea Barton’s car stalled at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Grand Avenue. Sanchez, whose car stopped behind the young woman’s car, honked the horn.

Andrea Barton and Sanchez exchanged obscene gestures. Several witnesses gave conflicting testimony about what happened next. Some witnesses testified that Sanchez ran Andrea Barton off the road; others said that she cut off Sanchez, forcing him to brake sharply.

Andrea Barton testified that she drove to her father’s nearby office on Cass Street and told him about the incident. Father and daughter jumped in Howard Barton’s pickup truck and went looking for Sanchez. They found him inside a sporting goods store on Garnet Avenue.

The Bartons confronted Sanchez and the three began arguing. The argument continued outside the store, on the sidewalk, and witnesses said that Sanchez twice attempted to walk away from Howard Barton.

Sanchez managed to walk to his parked car and got behind the steering wheel. Witnesses said that Howard Barton followed Sanchez to the car and pointed a gun at him, while Sanchez was sitting in the driver’s seat, with the driver’s door open.

Barton testified that Sanchez attempted to slash him with a knife. He said that the gun fired accidently while Sanchez leaned across the seat, toward the passenger door.

Chappell argued that Sanchez was sliding across the front seat, trying to open the passenger door to escaped from Barton, when he was shot.

In a videotaped interview with police that was shown to the jury, Andrea Barton said that Sanchez was “halfway out” the passenger door when her father shot him in the back. Her comments contradicted Howard Barton’s assertion that he shot Sanchez in self-defense.

Andrea Barton’s statements to homicide investigators also undercut other statements that Howard Barton gave to police.

On Friday, defense attorney Silverman acknowledged the inconsistencies in Andrea Barton’s testimony and statements she gave to police on the day of the shooting. However, Silverman said he was not sure what effect, if any, the woman’s inconsistent statements had on the jury.

“There were inconsistencies in Andrea Barton’s testimony and inconsistencies in the other witnesses’ testimony. I don’t know what impact it had on the jury,” Silverman said.