Three defendants have been convicted of virtually all counts against them in a triple murder case stemming from a gang shooting in southeast Bakersfield. The three defendants each face a life prison term. It took hours to read the complicated verdicts against Joseph Dixon, 24, Cory Johnson, 21, and David Lee, 22.
There was a heavy police presence as the verdicts were unsealed in the court of Judge Gary T. Friedman. Authorities say the men shot and killed 19-year-old Vanessa Alcala and 21-year-old James Wallace as they sat in an SUV on McNew Court in southeast Bakersfield in April 2008. Alcala's unborn child also died in the attack.Alcala was sitting in a vehicle when two men walked up and opened fire at the car and a nearby house. She was shot in the head. A bullet struck Wallace in the chest.
