Court Rejects Appeal by Man Convicted of Murder

City News Service

A state appellate court panel today upheld the conviction of a Northridge man who deliberately drove into a group of people in Reseda after a fight at a party, killing an Encino man and injuring two other people.   

The justice panel rejected an appeal filed by Marquise Dejon Jiles, who was convicted in March 2010 of second-degree murder for the April 20, 2008, death of Maziar Tehrani, 29, of Encino.   

Jiles also was found guilty of the attempted murders of two other people who were struck, including his main target.   

Jiles got into a friend's Toyota Scion after a fight outside the party, drove down the street, made a U-turn and struck the three, according to City News Service.   

He initially lied to the police about not driving the car, then denied intentionally hitting any of the victims, according to the appeals court panel's 15-page ruling.   

The justices found “sufficient evidence to support an inference that appellant intended to kill everyone in the kill zone as appellant created a zone of harm by accelerating and veering the car toward the group standing next to his principal target.”   

Jiles fled on foot after the crash and was arrested soon afterward. He is serving a 28-year-to-life sentence in state prison.