Allen found guilty

With two murder trials ending in first-degree murder convictions, the former couple found guilty of killing a mother who threatened to keep them apart is expected to spend decades behind bars.

A Huntington Beach man was convicted last week of killing his former girlfriend’s mother, in what prosecutors called a conspiracy between young people in love.

After deliberations since the beginning of last week, jurors came back with a verdict Sept. 18: Ian Westleigh Allen, 23, was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Allen was accused of conspiring with girlfriend Rachael Mullenix, 19, to kill her mother, Barbara Mullenix, in their Huntington Beach condo. Barbara Mullenix’s body washed up near the Newport Harbor Yacht Club in 2006, scarred with more than 50 stab wounds. A butter knife was found protruding from her eye.

Rachael Mullenix was convicted of first-degree murder in July for the same killing. She will be sentenced Oct. 10, and faces 25 years to life in prison.

Prosecutor Sonia Balleste hailed the decision, saying she was glad that both Allen and Rachael Mullenix have been found guilty.

“Justice is being served,” Balleste said. “It’s obvious from the evidence that it took two people to kill Barbara Mullenix in the way that she died.”

Balleste argued in both murder trials that the then-lovers plotted to kill Barbara Mullenix painfully to settle a long-brewing grudge the daughter held against her mother, and because the woman had threatened to keep the lovers apart. Witnesses said Barbara and Rachael Mullenix had a turbulent relationship, full of arguments and violence.

Both sides agreed on Rachael Mullenix’s guilt, but prosecutors argued that Allen helped her because he feared losing her. Public defender Julie Swain unsuccessfully argued that Allen had only stumbled on the killing after it was over and merely helped his lover cover it up.

Prosecutors had initially pursued a one-year sentencing enhancement for personal use of a knife, but opted to drop it to avoid muddling juror discussions, Balleste said.

“We decided not to pursue that,” she said. “We didn’t want to get caught up in questions of who’s using the knife, who’s passing the knife.”

Juror David Krake said the jury strongly agreed Allen had at least been part of a conspiracy to kill Barbara Mullenix, whether or not he held a blade. When Allen’s friends said on the witness stand that he had openly talked of plans to kill Mullenix and asked for help disposing of the body, it swayed jurors, he said.

“Most jurors were quite convinced by the corroborating testimony of his friends,” he said.

But personally, Krake said, “I feel like he was in the bedroom wielding a knife.”

Allen’s trial took much less time than Rachael Mullenix’s, which stretched on for weeks. It’s not that he was more clearly guilty, Balleste said. The difference is that prosecutors and defense had fewer differences on what actually took place.

“There was a lot more agreement between counsels about certain facts,” she said.

Allen’s sentencing will be Nov. 14. He faces 25 years to life in prison.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].