Photo: KHTS

A man found guilty in a 2011 robbery-murder in Canyon Country is requesting a new trial on the murder charges, officials said Thursday.

Jurors found Eric Edwards and Diamonte McGhee guilty of a 2011 Halloween murder. Both are facing a maximum of life in prison at sentencing.

The jury found Branden Higgs not guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery. On the other 10 counts against Higgs, the judge declared a mistrial.

In court this week, McGhee filed a motion for a new trial, and he was represented by a new attorney, H. Russell Halpern.

Halpern declined to discuss the details of the case at this time, but confirmed his intention to seek a new trial for his client.

As a result, the sentencing hearing was delayed until March 30.

In March, Judge Lloyd Nash has the option of granting a new trial, or sentencing McGhee, if he denies the defense’s motion.

Edwards is due back in court for sentencing Feb. 2, according to officials with the District Attorney’s Office.

Higgs is due back in court for a retrial March 5, and jury selection for that trial is expected to happen within 30 days, officials said.

Deputy surveys the crime scene behind the shopping center parking lot. Photo: KHTS

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McGhee and Edwards were both found guilty of murder and attempted murder, with special allegations that a firearm was used in the commission of the crime, and that their assaults were done during the commission of a robbery.

The judge cleared the court after outbursts from Edwards and McGhee, who ordered back to custody during the reading of the last of the verdict, in an emotional courtroom in San Fernando.

The jury found McGhee and Edwards responsible for the murder of Alejandro Sanchez-Torres, who tried to help Ricardo Sandoval while Sandoval was being robbed.

First to be apprehended, a young suspect sits in the back of a sheriff detective’s car at the condo complex. Photo: SCVTV

The jury found Branden Higgs not guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery. On the other 10 counts against Higgs, the judge declared a mistrial.

McGhee was painted as the “mastermind” by Deputy District Attorney Brad Lieberman, who accused McGhee of talking his “road dogs” Edwards and Higgs into a Halloween 2011 robbery that left a man dead.

During the alleged theft, Sandoval was beaten and threatened at gunpoint, and when Sanchez-Torres tried to intervene, he was shot once in the heart, inches below his tattoo of the name of his son, who was standing nearby, according to court testimony.

After Sanchez-Torres was shot, McGhee allegedly stood over Sandoval and shot him in the leg, according to court testimony.