By Mary O’KEEFE

On Tuesday a jury found David Bushman, 44, guilty of murder in the first degree in the death of Arthur Palmer, 73. The court proceedings lasted about two weeks with the jury hearing final arguments on Monday, then beginning deliberations late in the afternoon and offering its verdict on Tuesday afternoon.

It was July 24, 2015 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Palmer’s home in the 3000 block of Frances Avenue. A neighbor called the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station worried about the elderly man because he had not seen him in a few days. When deputies arrived, they found Palmer’s body. The LA County Coroner’s Office stated the cause of death was multiple blunt force traumatic injury.

During the trial the district attorney painted the picture of the last moments of Palmer’s life. The attack appeared to begin in the upstairs area and continue down to the lower garage where he was found by deputies.

Palmer was last seen on July 21; his body was found on July 24 at about 1:30 p.m. Phone records showed Bushman, who was a relative of Palmer’s, was in the area on both July 21 and 24.

By all accounts Palmer was a bit of a recluse. His home did not have running water or gas. Bushman had been to the Frances home on a few occasions in the past. At the time of his arrest, Bushman was homeless.

During the trial jurors heard experts from LASD and the LA County Coroner’s Office testify on forensic evidence found. Bushman and Palmer’s DNA were found on a pepper spray can upstairs. A palm print that matched Bushman was found on a broken gun cabinet, DNA was found on the murder weapon, a mallet, and a ball peen hammer. It was also found on a baseball-type hat that was upstairs as well.

The defense explained the DNA evidence was in those locations because Bushman admittedly had been to the home in the past; however, Det. Dawn Retzlaff, LASD Homicide Unit, stated on the stand that when she interviewed Bushman he told her he had never been upstairs in the home.

Bushman was arrested on Feb. 8, 2016. Bushman will be sentenced on May 24.

  Mary Okeefe