SAN JOSE — A man convicted of manslaughter for a blindside assault that killed an elderly stranger — spurred by a chance encounter in which the victim shined a flashlight at him — was sentenced to a 12-year prison term Thursday on the third anniversary of the deadly attack.
Amiel Joey Mirador, 35, has been held in Santa Clara County Main Jail without bail since the day after the March 27, 2022 attack on 81-year-old Allen Dournaee on a residential street in South San Jose. Dournaee died 12 days later.
Superior Court Judge Arthur Bocanegra sentenced Mirador following a series of tearful and emotional statements from Dournaee’s widow and his adult daughter and son. Mirador’s actual prison time will be shortened by credit for the three years he has spent in county jail since his arrest.
Bocanegra called Dournaee’s killing a “very unfortunate and tragic event” but said “the court’s decision is not based on mercy, it’s based on case law.” The technical breakdown of the sentence was a 6-year prison term, doubled because of a prior strike for Mirador from a 2019 arson and criminal threats conviction; Bocanegra denied a defense request to remove the strike before the sentencing.
Dournaee’s surviving relatives and friends, about two-dozen of whom were in court, were as dumbfounded by the sentence as they were by jurors’ decision to find Mirador guilty of voluntary manslaughter rather than the second-degree murder finding sought by the prosecution.
“A man was beaten and died, and this is not justice,” Dournaee’s daughter, Monica Scott, said after the Thursday court hearing. “This is the furthest thing from justice.”
In her victim-impact statement, Scott honored her late father as an embodiment of the American dream, having immigrated to the United States from Iran and built a life in San Jose that had evolved from being a father of two to a grandfather of four boys. She said the killing inflicted “generational trauma” on her family as she expects to have to relive the tragedy when she has to eventually explain the circumstances to her children when they are older.
“It was absolutely disgusting, it was inhumane, and it was not worthy of any mercy,” Scott said in court. “I will never be the same person … This has impacted every single aspect of my life.”
Dournaee’s widow, also named Monica, quoted Scottish philosopher Adam Smith in telling the court, “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.” Blake Dournaee, her and the victim’s son, said “the choices the defendant made showed me the face of pure evil.”
Mirador sought to apologize to the Dournaee family in his own statement, which he gave in Tagalog to the court but was later read in English by his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Bichara Endrawos.
“I never meant to kill Mr. Dournaee. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone’s family,” the statement read.
Mirador made reference to having to cope with the murder of his mother at a young age, and admitted that his alcoholism fueled both the fatal attack and other violence in his past.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” the statement continued, before addressing the victim’s family. “I hope you can heal as a family and move forward.”
The judge said he issued Mirador’s sentence after learning in court by Endrawos that Mirador had offered to plead to voluntary manslaughter and a 12-year prison term prior to trial, which ended up mostly resembling the case outcome.
A jury found Mirador guilty of voluntary manslaughter following a two-week trial. His attorney with the county public defender’s office contended Mirador did not have deadly intent and that the death was a freak accident, clouded by his intoxication and fear from Dournaee shining a flashlight at him while out on a night walk.
Both the prosecution and Dournaee’s family contended that the viciousness of the attack, highlighted by a punch to the back of his head and another “coup de grâce” punch after Dournaee had fallen face-first into a sidewalk, warranted a murder finding. The voluntary manslaughter verdict was a middle ground of sorts between that and the defense’s recommendation of an involuntary manslaughter conviction, which would have required jurors to decide that Mirador’s actions were negligent at worst.
Earlier this month, Dournaee’s mother and daughter secured a $2.5 million civil judgment against Mirador after they sued him for wrongful death, according to county court records. The payment of that judgment, which includes $1 million in punitive damages, will presumably be garnished from whatever earnings he makes, both in and out of incarceration, for the foreseeable future.
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The attack occurred March 27, 2022 near Avenida Grande and Via Romera, in a neighborhood nestled between Bernal Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard. Dournaee was on a night walk around 8 p.m. and encountered an addled Mirador on the opposite side of the street. When Dournaee shined a flashlight at him, Mirador began approaching and Dournaee started to walk away.
Surveillance video from the neighborhood showed Mirador punch Dournaee from behind, causing the victim to fall to the paved sidewalk. Video footage also showed Mirador punch the prone Dournaee in the head again and then a few seconds later, a third time.
Mirador called 911 and later claimed that he found Dournaee on the ground after tripping on him, a story that the video footage quickly debunked. He testified in court that being consumed by fear led to him lying to witnesses, emergency personnel and police about what happened.
At trial, Mirador and his brothers testified that about an hour before the attack, Mirador had arrived at a family home drunk and got into a fight with one brother, prompting a police call but no arrests. Mirador then got into fight with another brother who was driving him home, and he punch and broke the car’s windshield before getting out and walking away. The encounter with Dournaee soon followed.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
