Felon Found Guilty of Fatally Beating His Grandmother
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A convicted felon who fatally beat his 83-year-old grandmother during an argument at her Menifee home is facing a minimum of 20 years to life in state prison for the crime of second-degree murder and other offenses, of which a jury convicted him after only a few hours of deliberations.
Andrew Daniel Joseph, 45, was found guilty on Monday of the murder count, along with elder abuse and a sentence-enhancing allegation of inflicting great bodily injury on a person over 70 years old for the 2020 death of Ethel Mae Hayes.
The prosecution and defense concluded closing statements in the weeklong trial Monday morning, and jurors went behind closed doors that afternoon, returning with verdicts by the close of the day.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni scheduled a sentencing hearing for Jan. 24 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Joseph is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, on the afternoon of Sept. 18, 2020, Joseph was alone with his grandmother in her and her husband’s single-story residence in the 26000 block of Ridgemoor Drive, near Menifee Road, when an unspecified verbal dispute erupted.
The brief said Joseph confided to one of his cousins later the same day that “Ethel had `spazzed out’ on him, and he, in response, `went off’ on her.”
“The defendant did not describe exactly what he did to his grandmother,” court papers stated. “He claimed that he blacked out and could not remember what happened.”
Evidence collected at the scene indicated Joseph had slammed Hayes’ face and head into a cabinet and possibly a wall several times, according to the brief.
The gravely injured senior managed to walk to a neighbor’s house and ring the doorbell. Although the neighbor wasn’t home, she activated her “ring” front porch camera via her mobile phone and spoke directly to Hayes, who had blood on her face and visible swelling around her eyes, the prosecution said.
“She said she had been assaulted by her grandson, `Andrew,’ repeating several times that her grandson had attacked her,” the brief recounted.
The victim collapsed unconscious on the porch, and the neighbor called 911. Hayes was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where she succumbed to the blunt force trauma injuries two days later.
Joseph went to his sister’s house in Hemet, where Menifee police officers located him and arrested him the day of the assault.
His cousin, Harry Fouse, told detectives that “Joseph is a `mental patient’ … explaining the defendant has episodes where he becomes violent and screams,” according to the brief.
“Those bouts are shortly followed by him staring straight ahead and appearing calm,” the narrative said.
In a letter to the court received last summer, Steven Lloyd, the victim’s nephew, wrote that his aunt’s life was “cut short in a manner that is both heartbreaking and incomprehensible. Ethel was a source of immense love and support for those around her. She was a victim of a senseless and violent act by someone who should have been a source of support and care.”
Joseph had been welcomed into his grandparents’ house after being paroled from state prison, according to the prosecution.
Court records show he has a prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon resulting in great bodily injury, which had been reduced from attempted murder. He served more than 10 years behind bars.
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