Two men convicted in killing of Mongols motorcycle gang member

Two men were convicted of murder Wednesday in the October 2008 shooting death of Manuel Martin, a 30-year-old member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club.

Jurors found Richard Clayborne, 40, and Jose Gonzalez, 36, guilty of killing Martin, who lived in Venice, as he rode alongside another motorcyclist on the 2 Freeway in Glendale, authorities said.

Veronica Rocha of Times Community News reported:

Clayborne and Gonzalez were also found guilty of trying to kill the other motorcyclist, Ronald Hamburg, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office told the Glendale News-Press.

Martin and Hamburg had been at a bar with Clayborne and Gonzalez before the shooting, authorities said.

Clayborne and Gonzalez got into a vehicle and followed motorcyclists Martin and Hamburg about 2 a.m. from the eastbound 210 Freeway transition to the southbound 2 Freeway, according to Glendale police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

The pair fired shots at the motorcyclists, she added.

Martin was hit, and his motorcycle landed in the center divider. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Clayborne and Gonzalez are scheduled to be sentenced April 16.

— Los Angeles Times Staff

Photo: L.A. County coroner's personnel remove the victim's body from the freeway on Oct. 8, 2008. Credit: Roger Wilson / Times Community News