Man Guilty of Killing In-Law Over Game

Paul Myers of Moorpark, an airport shuttle driver, was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder for fatally shooting his brother-in-law in a dispute over a video game last August.

A Ventura County Superior Court jury deliberated for a day and a half before coming back with its verdict.

Myers, 30, stood stoically as the verdict was read, but became visibly angry as he was being walked past the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Calvert.

Defense attorney James Blatt, seeking to calm down his client, stepped between the men as Myers was being escorted from the courtroom.

Blatt maintained that Myers was mentally ill and irrationally feared Jason Weaver, his sister’s 26-year-old husband, because Weaver had a temper.

Myers testified he shot Weaver in self-defense after the two had an argument in the driveway of Myers’ parents’ home over who would keep a Nintendo game.

Al Weaver, father of the victim, said he was numb while the verdict was read, but that “a measure of justice was done.”

Though nothing could bring back his son, Weaver said, he was relieved Myers wouldn’t be on the street, possibly harming others.

“This guy is not mentally ill,” just violent, Weaver said, referring to Myers’ burst of anger after the verdict was read.

Blatt said he was not surprised by the decision. “Naturally his family and I are disappointed, but I believe it was a fair trial and the jury looked closely at the evidence.”

He said Myers may receive a sentence of 40 years to life in prison, but that his client may appeal.

During the trial, Myers said he would often go hiking in the hills behind his parents’ Moorpark home, and he would always carry a rifle or handgun to protect himself from wild animals.

His father, James Myers, is a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who kept three guns--unlocked but hidden in a closet--inside the family’s home.

“I thought the weapons were hidden,” the elder Myers testified during the six-day trial. “If I could do it again, I would buy a safe to put them in.”

On Aug. 11, 1999, the afternoon of the shooting, Myers said he had intended to go for a walk in the hills when Weaver and his step-son, Jimmy, came over to the house to pick up the child’s Nintendo set, which he had left with his grandparents.

Myers and Weaver got into a brief verbal tiff over who would keep the game.

Myers pulled out his father’s .38-caliber revolver and shot Weaver six times in the driveway.

Four of the shots came while Weaver was trying to escape.

Blatt said he thought the jury’s main concern was the four shots to the victim’s back. “It boiled down to one man being armed, the other not armed and that he should have given him more time before firing the shots,” Blatt said.

James Myers testified that his son was increasingly mentally unstable and that he had asked Paul to get help.

He said his son had recently converted to Judaism, and that Paul Myers said he thought he might be the one to lead his people, much as Moses had done.

When Paul Myers was on the stand, he said he feared his 6-foot-4, 275-pound brother-in-law because Weaver was antagonistic.

Two neighbors testified that Weaver acted threateningly during an argument with them over a skateboard.

And several witnesses quoted Weaver as saying, “You want a piece of me?”

Weaver’s parents, who were fighting back tears, said after the trial that their son, an auto detailer, was not hostile, and he couldn’t help being big.

His stepmother, Laure, said he would often use phrases like “You want a piece of me” to defuse an argument, because most people would back away rather than fight a man his size.

“He was loyal, loving and protective of his family,” she said in the hallway afterward. “He would always say to his father, ‘I love you, pops.’ ”

The Myers family, who declined comment, cried and held hands while the verdict was read.

Paul Myers is scheduled to be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Donald Coleman on Sept. 11 at 9 a.m.