Man Re-Sentenced After Murder Conviction Vacated in Pasadena Killing

A man whose murder conviction for a Pasadena killing was vacated as a result of a recent change in state law was re- sentenced Tuesday to 23 years in state prison.

Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen imposed the lower term on John Michael Piepoli, now 27, who was among five men initially convicted of murder and other charges stemming from the Jan. 15, 2013, shooting of Zane Goldstein, who died two days later.

Piepoli — who was not at the scene of the crime — was re-sentenced on an attempted robbery charge and a gun allegation.

He was first sentenced in November 2014 to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but was subsequently re-sentenced to 50 years to life after a state appeals  court panel found insufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding of a special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery against him.

In their November 2016 ruling, the appellate court justices found that there was “insufficient evidence that appellant was a major participant in the underlying robbery,”  and that Piepoli “did not plan the criminal enterprise that led to Zane’s death” and was not present at the scene of the attempted robbery or Goldstein’s shooting.

“There was no evidence appellant knew that a gun would be used. At most, the evidence showed that appellant thought a knife might be used in the robbery,” the  justices found in the November 2016 ruling.

Piepoli repeatedly told a police detective that he thought the plan was merely to scare Goldstein into turning over his marijuana, and he wasn’t aware that Goldstein had been shot until he was informed the next morning by police, according to the ruling.

Three other men — Peter Parra, Kevin Jessie Cabrera and Raymond Frank Conchas — were also convicted and are serving life prison sentences without the possibility of parole for their roles in the shooting. A state appellate court panel upheld their convictions, and the California Supreme Court refused to review the case against them.

A fifth man, Ward Lacey IV, was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

During Piepoli’s trial, Deputy District Attorney Stefan Mrakich acknowledged that Piepoli was not at the crime scene, but told jurors that he was “equally guilty.”

Piepoli’s trial attorney, William Jacobson, countered that it was “a case that has nothing to do with robbery.”

The defense lawyer told jurors in his closing argument that it was “simply an attempted assassination” stemming from Goldstein’s alleged failure to pay a gang “taxes” for selling marijuana in its territory. He argued that his client was “never part of an agreement to commit a murder” and “never knew what the actual conspiracy was here.”