After 5 ½ hours of deliberations Wednesday, a jury convicted a house painter of pre-meditated attempted murder of CBS sports director Kyle Kraska and making a death threat against the manager of the San Diego Rowing Club in Mission Beach.
Mike Montana, 55, of El Cajon, stood up with his attorney to hear the verdicts but showed little reaction in San Diego Superior Court.
Kraska, who was shot six times in his Mercedes on Feb. 10, 2015, was in the courtroom audience and put his head in his hands. Kraska, who has worked for KFMB-TV (Channel 8) since 1999, walked away afterward without comment.
The eight-man, four-woman jury also convicted Montana of firing into an occupied vehicle and making a death threat to a worker at the Department of Motor Vehicles in 2014.
The jury found Montana personally used a handgun when he shot Kraska and his car, which means he faces a sentence of 25 years just for the gun use in a crime. They also found he inflicted great bodily injury upon Kraska, which also adds about five years to a sentence.
The maximum sentence Montana faces is 38 years to life in prison. Because the jury found the attempted murder premeditated, that enhancement carries a life sentence which includes parole possibility after seven years.
Montana could also receive eight years consecutively for the death threats made against Robert Hibler, the manager of the San Diego Rowing Club, and the DMV employee. Judge Michael Smyth set sentencing for Aug. 24. He changed Montana’s $750,000 bail to no bail and he remains in jail.
The verdict was read around 4:45 p.m. and jurors left the courthouse without comment. Jurors heard closing arguments Tuesday and began their deliberations Wednesday morning.
Hibler testified as the trial’s first witness on July 11 about Montana driving his jet ski very fast in Mission Bay, causing a woman to fall over in a boat in 2012. This occurred after Montana was approached by Hibler and told not to drive his jet skis so fast because he was causing big waves. In response, Montana “gunned” his jet ski and drove faster, he said.
Montana made a series of threatening phone calls which were recorded and played to the jury. Hibler contacted police at the time, but police were unable to locate Montana in 2012.
In the recordings, Montana said he was getting a gun, was mentally unstable, and on medication. He talked about shooting people in the head and suggested having a “shoot out on the Bay.” He also threatened the woman who fell down. Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Zipp presented Hibler and the graphic tape recordings by Montana on the first day of trial to show Montana’s intent. Since Montana didn’t testify, what he said on the tapes were the only words the jury heard him say. His attorney, Richard Jayakumar, argued he didn’t have the intent to commit pre-meditated attempted murder because he was on too much medication. He also said Montana was firing shots at the car, not Kraska. Kraska testified he was told he died twice on the operating table. He was in a coma for six days and had five operations. He returned to work about six weeks later. Kraska hired Montana to paint his house in Scripps Ranch and paid him $800 up front for expenses. Montana asked for more money after doing about 25% of the project, and Kraska asked him to produce receipts that showed he spent all $800 on supplies. Montana quit, but two months later began demanding the full payment of $2,200. Kraska testified Montana shouted at him that he should have paid the money just before he started shooting.