Oak Run Man Sentenced To 40-Years-To-Life In Prison For 2019 Killing

A 58-year-old Oak Run man will be behind bars for the rest of his life for murdering his 44-year-old neighbor. On February 7th of 2019, Gregory Donald Galusha was asleep at his home on Stagecoach Road when Joseph Edward Roza entered the home and fired his gun into the wall above Galusha’s head. He then started hitting Galusha with a wooden sword-like stick. Galusha ran away, and as he was running down the driveway Roza followed him and shot him in the back, leaving him face-down in the dirt to die. Roza hid out for three days before turning himself in and confessing to Shasta County Sheriff’s Detectives that he had killed Galusha. There was a series of complications in prosecuting Roza. At one point the case was dismissed by the court because no courtroom was available for the trial, so the DA’s Office had to refile the charges. A jury trial was set but then had to be delayed because an important witness was unavailable. The trial was then set to begin in December of 2023 but there was another delay. On December 17th a Shasta County Jury found Roza guilty of 2nd degree murder with a special allegation of using a firearm. He was sentenced Tuesday to 40-years-to-life in state prison.

-Steve Gibson