A 28-year-old man was convicted this week of an unprovoked fatal stabbing of a security guard at an Anaheim strip mall but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Andrew Isaiah Godinez was convicted Thursday, Oct. 9, of first-degree murder in the Sept. 10, 2021, killing of Joseph Paul Gomez, 46, of Tustin before Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Paer, who also ruled the defendant was not guilty by reason of insanity.
Godinez’s mental-health diagnosis was kept confidential.
Paer set Oct. 30 for a hearing on the mental-health hospital to which the defendant will be sent indefinitely.
Police were called to a Dollar Tree store in the 1800 block of West Lincoln Avenue about 10:15 on that September night in 2021, police said. Gomez was working as a security guard when Godinez stabbed him for no apparent reason.
Originally Published: October 9, 2025 at 10:36 PM PDT