Saturday, March 7, 2026

Resentencing Bid in 2007 Altadena Killing Set for March 10 Hearing in Los Angeles Court

A status conference was reported scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, in the case of Mesha Arshaz Dean, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2007 fatal shooting of Monroe “Monty” Miles Jr. outside a home on Canyon Dell Drive in Altadena and is now seeking resentencing under California’s reformed murder liability laws.

A hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. in Department 110 of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. The proceeding is a procedural step in a multi?stage legal process that could result in Dean’s murder conviction being vacated or her 49?year?and?four?month?to?life sentence being reduced.

Prosecutors have the opportunity to contest the petition by proving Dean remains guilty under current legal standards. Judge Lisa B. Lench is presiding.

Dean, serving 49 years and four months to life for killing Miles on Canyon Dell Drive, is petitioning under California Penal Code Section 1172.6, which stems from Senate Bill 1437, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, according to the California Legislature’s records.

The law narrowed the felony murder rule and eliminated the natural and probable consequences doctrine for murder convictions, allowing individuals convicted under those now?invalid theories to seek resentencing, according to Altadena Now.

Dean’s conviction involved a shooting during a felony kidnapping and preceded the reforms.

Dean has been incarcerated since her arrest in March 2007, according to public records cited by Altadena Now. She was convicted on March 26, 2012, of second?degree murder, kidnapping, and child endangerment, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Judge Lance Ito sentenced her on April 11, 2012, to 49 years and four months to life in state prison.

Miles, 32, was shot in the chest on March 18, 2007, while caring for his 4?year?old nephew at the family home at 4023 Canyon Dell Drive in Altadena. He died at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena about an hour later.

Dean and her girlfriend, Vanessa Marie Ochoa, had traveled from Nevada to retrieve Ochoa’s son without permission, according to court records cited by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department issued an Amber Alert the same day. Dean and Ochoa were arrested two days later in Las Vegas with the boy. The boy was found unharmed.

“Right after he said the words, ‘You’re not taking my nephew,’ he was shot and killed by the defendant,” Deputy District Attorney Tamu Usher told jurors during the trial.

Ochoa pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, and child endangerment in August 2010 and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

Dean’s earlier appeal was rejected by California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal on February 4, 2014, and the California Supreme Court declined to review the case that May, according to Altadena Patch. Public records show she has appeared in court multiple times in 2025 as part of the resentencing proceedings.

The hearing will take place at 210 W. Temple St., Los Angeles.

The court will ultimately determine if Dean’s conviction relied on legal theories that have since been invalidated, or whether prosecutors prove she remains guilty under current standards.