After nearly five days of deliberations, a jury Monday convicted the 31-year-old son of Angela Burks of first-degree murder in the 2017 slaying of the longtime Otay Ranch High School science teacher.
Joseph Robert Burks showed no reaction to the verdict which was read by San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers, who set sentencing for July 13.
The eight woman, four man jury determined that Burks personally used a knife when he stabbed his 58-year-old mother to death that included 19 stab wounds in the Clairemont home where they both lived.
Burks will likely get a prison term of 25 years to life for the murder plus one year for the use of the knife. He remains in jail, with Rogers changing his $1 million bail figure to no bail.
Jurors said afterwards the reason the deliberations lasted five days was due to their very careful examination of the testimony and exhibits. The jury foreman said their first vote came on the third day of discussions and some were then undecided.
Their last vote came Monday afternoon and everyone agreed it was first-degree murder, the foreman said.
“We did a lot of work. It wasn’t easy,” said one juror.
“We wanted to get it right,” said another juror.
Burks’ attorney, Jeremy Thornton, argued that his client stabbed his mother in self-defense after she came after him with a knife. He played the 911 call in which Joseph Burks told a police dispatcher his mother attacked him with a steak knife.
Jurors said they went through timelines and thoroughly reviewed everything. “Everybody played a big part,” said another juror. “We went through every single witness.”
Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey urged jurors to disregard Burks’ statements on the 911 call, saying “he intended to kill and accomplished that goal.”
Harvey noted that Angela Burks “was conflicted about what to do” about her son who did not work and made no contributions towards expenses. She met with a lawyer six days before her death about evicting her son, though she took no action.
An alternate juror, who did not participate in the verdict, noted that if Angela Burks didn’t have the heart to evict her son, she would not have tried to kill him.
The jury foreman noted “an irony” existed for Joseph Burks, whom he described as “self absorbed.” He said the defendant lived in her house and had been provided with everything.
His future is prison where he’ll be provided with housing, food, and medical treatment, the foreman noted. He added that prison would have “more structure” for Burks than he had with his mother.
Joseph Burks did not testify. He was taking pain medication for a back injury. He separated his living space with a dog gate from where his mother lived in the 4300 block of Mount Putman Avenue. He slept on a bathroom floor as his bed was too cluttered with objects on it to use.
Aside from the note telling the judge they had a verdict, the jury only wrote one note to Rogers asking to see exhibits that were in the trial, which began on May 23.
The victim’s mother, Josephine Van Atta, 84, testified in the trial and said her daughter divorced her husband when Joseph was three years old and raised him as a single parent. She said Angela Burks told her he had stopped talking to her about a month before the slaying after she decided to no longer pay for his health insurance.
On several walls were instructions from Angela Burks to her son about applying for Medi-Cal, food stamps, and other suggestions. Joseph Burks had also punched at least six holes in the wall.
