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Frank Souza (30) was found guilty of first degree murder after robbing and killing a homeless man

Filed Under: Murderer

Frank Souza (30)

Date: Sep 16, 2009
Charged with: first degree murder
Location: San Jose, California
URL:  go to their myspace
After less than two hours of deliberations, a Santa Clara County jury convicted a tattoo artist of stealing a homeless man's bicycle and then killing him during a violent assault in a Willow Glen alley.

The jury found Frank Anthony Souza, 30, guilty Monday of first-degree murder and second-degree robbery in the slaying of John Carl Riggins, whose body was found in a back alley off Lincoln Avenue in August 2007.

Souza, who has a prior felony conviction in 2001 for making criminal threats, will spend a minimum of 50 years in prison, according to prosecutor Lane Liroff. Without the prior strike, Souza would have been facing a 25-years-to-life sentence, according to his attorney, Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defender Charles Gillan.

"It's incredibly unlikely he will ever see a parole board," Liroff said Wednesday.

Souza is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6.

On Aug. 29, 2007, Souza - who was also homeless - had been drinking and doing drugs at a house on Curtiss Avenue, about flour blocks east of Lincoln, when he and two men decided to walk toward downtown Willow Glen, Liroff said.

Souza spotted Riggins' Diamondback mountain bike parked in front of the Le Boulanger restaurant at Lincoln and Minnesota avenues. After taking the bike, he later got into a violent confrontation, with Riggins being killed across the street in a back alley.

Liroff said eyewitnesses testified Souza - who has distinctive tattoos of a club, heart, diamond and spade on his face - argued with Riggins about taking the bicycle, which escalated into Souza knocking him down and assaulting him. The coroner's report says Riggins had many abrasions and contusions, but the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and manual strangulation, Liroff said.

Following the murder, Souza walked the bike back to the house where he had been partying, Liroff said. He then returned to the area on a beer run to the Quik Stop market with friends. On the trip, Souza showed the others the body, Liroff said. In testimony, Souza's girlfriend compared the incident to a scene in the movie "Stand By Me," in which a group of young boys find the body of missing boy.

"It's a striking thing to see people going to look at a body," Liroff said. "It took a citizen to notice the body lying in a pool of blood in the alleyway and notify police."

If somebody dies accidentally or unintentionally during a robbery, it automatically becomes first-degree murder.

"Frank told people that he hurt somebody when he was jacking them for money," Liroff said.

Gillan argued that Souza did not intend to kill Riggins and struck him as "an instinctual reaction" after being confronted. Gillan contended that Souza did not strike Riggins to keep possession of the bike.

Gillan also said Riggins had not suffered "any broken bones, teeth or breaks to the face that would suggest Frank applied a tremendous amount of force." Gillan also stated that a coroner's report indicated Riggins was extremely drunk.

Gillan argued that if Souza had intended to commit robbery, he would have taken the $7 and handful of watches Riggins had.

"Because Frank was homeless and alcoholic and always in need of a few bucks, if his intention was to take something of value, he certainly would have taken the $7," Gillan said.

"The big issue in the case was whether it was a robbery," Gillan said. "If they (the jurors) did not believe it was a robbery, I believe they would have come back with involuntary manslaughter."

Riggins was a fixture in downtown Willow Glen; regulars who frequent the shops on busy Lincoln Avenue often saw Riggins riding his bike along the street or sitting at a table in front of a coffeehouse.

"A lot of people in the business community liked him," Liroff said. "He would ride around and coexist in the community. I think he was clean and respectful; he didn't cause any problems. People were unhappy that he suffered such a terrible end."

During testimony, Souza described his actions that fateful morning as the "impulse of a drunken idiot," Gillan said. Souza admitted he stole the bike and hit Riggins, but insisted he had no intention of killing him.

"He made some tearful confessions to a couple of the witnesses immediately after the incident," Gillan said.
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7 responses to this article...
Lozz*in*Wonderland on Oct 22, 2009 at 9:55 AM
http://mydeathspace.com/article/2009/10/23/Frank_Souza_%2830%29_was_found_guilty_of_first_degree_murder_after_robbing_and_killing_a_homeless_man

What a wonderful guy.. after taking the bike he later took his mates to see the body during a beer run... and his lawyer still says that he didn't mean to kill him it was "an instinctual reaction". :stupid:

On the submission, it said he had a write a prisoner profile but they had copied and pasted the article link again but when looking at the prisoner site it keeps telling me i'm under 18  :|
Ron_NYC on Oct 22, 2009 at 10:05 AM

http://mydeathspace.com/article/2009/10/23/Frank_Souza_%2830%29_was_found_guilty_of_first_degree_murder_after_robbing_and_killing_a_homeless_man

What a wonderful guy.. after taking the bike he later took his mates to see the body during a beer run... and his lawyer still says that he didn't mean to kill him it was "an instinctual reaction". :stupid:

On the submission, it said he had a write a prisoner profile but they had copied and pasted the article link again but when looking at the prisoner site it keeps telling me i'm under 18  :|

This? http://writeaprisoner.com/Template.aspx?i=z-07063436
Lozz*in*Wonderland on Oct 22, 2009 at 10:07 AM

This? http://writeaprisoner.com/Template.aspx?i=z-07063436


Thanks Ron, i can see his picture but not anything thing else, just "you need to be 18 or over to enter" need to clear some cookies i guess!
kellymarie on Oct 23, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Yikes. I was looking through Frank's pictures and I saw people I know. We also have like 8 mutual friends.

Creepy.
moosella on Oct 23, 2009 at 6:15 PM

Thanks Ron, i can see his picture but not anything thing else, just "you need to be 18 or over to enter" need to clear some cookies i guess!


For some reason I can see the profile fine. This is what the texts says:

"Frank is lonely. He'd love to meet a woman that enjoys writing and reading long letters.

Frank is 5'10" 180 lbs. Frank has been employed as a tattoo artist. Enjoys drawing, reading and corresponding with friends. Highly skilled tattoo artist. Favorite sports teams include the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the San Francisco Giants and the San Jose Sharks. Favorite band is Social Distortion. Has a great sense of humor and doesn't take himself too seriously."
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