A Los Angeles man was convicted by jury Tuesday, Aug. 6, of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy after the boy attempted to steal a cellphone during an OfferUp sale in North Long Beach two years ago.
The Long Beach Superior Court jury deliberated for more than two days before finding Jose Bustamante Cardenas, 27, guilty of voluntary manslaughter with a sentencing enhancement for personal use of a firearm in the April 15, 2022 slaying of Joshua Simmons at the Via Carmelitos Community Center after the two met up to discuss Simmons potentially buying Cardenas’ lavender-colored iPhone 11 Max for $500.
Prosecutors had argued that though Simmons had tried to steal the phone, Cardenas played “judge, jury and executioner” in pulling a 9-millimeter firearm and shooting the boy in the back and legs and asked jurors to find him guilty of murder.
Cardenas’ public defender argued Cardenas fired in self-defense because he was scared and in unfamiliar territory at night. Cardenas testified that Simmons had reached for his waistband as he ran and that’s why Cardenas shot him, but video evidence seemed to contradict that testimony.
Jurors landed on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, indicating some sort of provocation led to the killing.
The shooting was captured on surveillance cameras outside the community center, which showed Cardenas and Simmons discussing the phone and Simmons holding the device and then suddenly running away. Cardenas was seen pulling the 9-millimeter handgun out of his left pocket and firing several shots at Simmons’ back as he ran.
Two of those shots, deemed “rapidly fatal,” by a Medical Examiner’s investigator hit Simmons in the back, passed through a lung and exited the front neck and front left shoulder.
Cardenas took the stand to testify in his own defense and said he put the iPhone for sale on OfferUp after he and his fiancée had upgraded their devices.
Simmons responded to the post using a friend’s phone and asked if Cardenas could deliver the phone to North Long Beach. Cardenas agreed and arrived at the community center about 9 p.m., but said he felt nervous because it was dark, he didn’t know the area, didn’t know who he was messaging with and the potential buyer kept changing the meeting location.
Eventually Simmons approached Cardenas from behind outside the community center, where Cardenas showed Simmons the phone’s features, including that the internet and Bluetooth functions worked, before Simmons asked to hold the phone.
Cardenas testified that while he was showing Simmons the phone and as Simmons started to run away with it, he kept putting one of his hands near his waistband, leading Cardenas to believe he was possibly armed.
However, the surveillance video did not match up with those statements, as Simmons was seen pumping both arms with the phone in his right hand as he ran away.
As Simmons collapsed near the basketball court, he threw the phone a few feet away and said “Sorry,” Cardenas testified. The video showed Cardenas walking toward the phone, picking it up and then running out of the community center toward his car, where his fiancée was waiting.
Cardenas drove two miles to a Bank of America at Lakewood and Del Amo boulevards before calling 911 to report the shooting. He later met up with Long Beach officers and was arrested without incident at a gas station at Cherry Avenue and Del Amo.
While Long Beach officers and a Medical Examiner’s Office investigator testified they found no U.S. currency on Simmons, indicating he did not have the money to buy the phone, they also testified they didn’t find any weapons on Simmons either.
Cardenas was scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 16.
