Orange County Criminal Attorney Blog

An Orange County man, 31 year-old Stephenson Choi Kim, received a sentence of life in prison on April 30, 2012, for a 2004 shooting that killed one person and wounded four. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty but dropped it in 2011 after the jury deadlocked on the issue. Jurors had found that the murder was committed as part of a "criminal street gang," a special circumstance alleged by prosecutors.

Prosecutors claimed that, on March 14, 2004, Kim and six other gang members were driving around Orange County in several cars, armed and looking for rival gangs. They stopped at the Fifth Wave Cafe in Cypress. Two of Kim's companions went inside, where they reportedly approached a table of seven people and asked if any of them belonged to a gang. One person told them that he used to belong to a gang, but not anymore. The two left the restaurant and told Kim what happened. Prosecutors said that Kim then entered the restaurant and fired repeatedly at the group with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. He shot 22 year-old Venus Hyun, whom prosecutors described as an "innocent bystander," in the back. He shot at six other people, hitting four of them, before exiting through the restaurant's back door. Another gang member had allegedly pulled a car around to the back of the restaurant to wait for Kim. Hyun died at the hospital, and the other four survived.

Continue reading "Man Gets Life Sentence for 2004 Orange County Murder" »

A series of hazing cases at Florida A&M University (FAMU), one of which resulted in the death of the marching band's drum major, have resulted in criminal charges for thirteen people. Eleven people face felony hazing charges, and prosecutors have filed more than twenty misdemeanor charges. The case has brought attention to the issue of hazing and how states have chosen to criminalize it. Anti-hazing statutes often fall within a state's criminal assault laws, only requiring proof that a defendant participated in hazing that resulted in death or serious injury.

On November 19, 2011, members of the FAMU band, the "Marching 100," boarded a charter bus in Orlando after a football game. Robert Champion, the 26 year-old drum major, would be the subject of an alleged band tradition, in which a current or prospective band member would walk from one end of the bus to the other while bandmates kicked and punched at him or her. About twenty people were reportedly on the bus when Champion began crossing it. At some point while he was walking through the bus, Champion collapsed. Bandmates called 911, and an ambulance arrived and took Champion to the hospital. Doctors pronounced Champion dead upon his arrival. The medical examiner later ruled that he died from blunt force trauma that occurred during the hazing.

Continue reading "Band Members Charged in Hazing Death of Florida A&M Drum Major" »

Orange County prosecutors have charged 31 year-old Shazer Fernando Limas with three counts of murder, alleging that Limas killed his girlfriend, Arlet Contreras, and their two sons in April and dumped their bodies. Contreras' body was found shortly after Limas' arrest, but the sons' bodies remain missing. Officially, the children, who are two years old and four months old, are only believed to be dead. The case quickly made headlines for its cinematic aspects, including a high-speed car chase on the freeway, but authorities admit that there are key details that they still do not know.

On Thursday, May 3, 2012, a cleaning crew at an Orange apartment complex reported finding blood stains on the carpet in an apartment unit recently leased to Limas and Contreras. Limas had vacated the apartment several days earlier. An officer spotted Limas in a Costa Mesa parking lot later that day, but Limas reportedly fled when police approached him. Limas led police on a chase on Interstate 5, causing the highway to be blocked for up to an hour. The chase ended when Limas' vehicle ran over a spike strip laid out by police, flattening his tires. Police took Limas into custody, where they have held him without bail ever since.

Continue reading "Orange County Man Charged with Murder for Allegedly Killing His Girlfriend and Their Two Sons" »

An historic criminal case may be going to trial soon, as observers expect Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to request a trial setting at an upcoming preliminary hearing for former Fullerton police officers Manuel Anthony Ramos and Jay Patrick Cicinelli. Ramos and Cicinelli face charges related to the death of Kelly Thomas last summer. Rackauckas surprised more than a few people by filing murder and manslaughter charges against the officers last fall. This is reportedly the first time in the county's history that a court has held a preliminary hearing for a police officer charged with an alleged murder occurring while in uniform.

Kelly Thomas, a 37 year-old homeless man who reportedly suffered from schizophrenia, got into an "altercation" with police on July 5, 2011. Fullerton police responded to complaints of a man breaking into cars near the Fullerton Bus Depot. The Fullerton Police Department claimed that Thomas resisted when police tried to arrest him, and the department said it took five or six officers to control him. Witnesses, however, said that Thomas ran when police tried to search his bag. They reported seeing several officers hit Kelly and, once he was on the ground, shoot him with a Taser gun. The incident resulted in severe injuries to Thomas' head and neck.

At the hospital, doctors discovered injuries to Thomas' brain, a broken nose and cheekbone, several broken ribs, and internal bleeding. At least one shot from the stun gun hit him near his heart on the left side of his chest. Thomas never regained consciousness. His family decided to remove him from life support at the hospital five days later. The official cause of death was "brain death" caused by "head trauma." Toxicology reports came back negative for drugs and alcohol. Six officers, including Ramos and Cicinelli, were placed on leave after Thomas died.

Continue reading "Orange County DA Expected to Take Murder Case Against Two Former Police Officers to Trial" »

A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last week threw out the death sentence imposed against Richard L. Phillips, formerly of Orange County. This is the second time Phillips has had a death sentence vacated. He is one of California's longest-serving inmates on death row, having originally received his first death sentence in 1980.

Phillips was convicted of the 1977 murder of Bruce Bartulis, and the attempted murder of Ronald Rose, in 1980. He was sentenced to death for Bartulis' murder. The evidence presented at trial showed that Phillips had offered to include the victims in a drug deal in which each of them would get $25,000. At a meeting in Madera County, Phillips shot both of them, took their wallets, doused their car in gasoline, and lit it on fire. Rose survived, but was wounded and badly burned. Prosecutors based their case on the testimony of Rose and Phillips' ex-girlfriend, Susan Colman. Because of the murder conviction and a special circumstance alleged by the prosecution that the murder was in furtherance of a robbery, Phillips received the death penalty.

The California Supreme Court threw out his death sentence in 1985 while upholding the convictions, based on evidentiary problems at trial. They remanded the case for a new penalty phase trial. Phillips' lawyer had claimed he did not know about statements made by Colman that indicated there had been a "shoot-out" between Phillips and the victims, but the judge had denied any relief. At the next penalty trial in 1991, he again received the death penalty.

Phillips filed a petition for habeas corpus in 1992, claiming that the prosecution failed to disclose material information about a plea deal offered to Colman in a different criminal matter in exchange for cooperation in his case. A federal court had denied a similar petition while he was awaiting his second penalty trial. Phillips' 1992 petition also alleged ineffective assistance of counsel and other claims. The district court denied all of Phillips' claims as to the guilt-phase of his case, holding that none of the violations by the prosecution had prejudiced him.

The Ninth Circuit reviewed the prosecution's conduct in withholding information about Colman's plea offer. The district judge had previously ruled that it did not prejudice Phillips in either his convictions or in the special circumstance. The Ninth Circuit panel concluded that Colman had received substantial benefits from prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against Phillips, and that the prosecution had not disclosed this to Phillips. Furthermore, the prosecution misrepresented this to the jury and allowed Colman to testify falsely that she had received no benefit in exchange for her testimony.

Continue reading "Ninth Circuit Vacates Orange County Man's Death Sentence" »

An Orange County man has received a sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison for the death of nine month-old Isiah Prim-Ortiz. Alexander Lucas Barnes, age 20, was accused of killing Prim-Ortiz by smashing his head into a wall. A jury convicted Barnes based mostly on circumstantial evidence last year, and a judge issued the sentence in late February.

Prim-Ortiz was the son of Barnes' girlfriend. On October 6, 2009, according to prosecutors, Barnes was babysitting the child for the first time while the mother went to a nearby community college for class. At some point during the morning, Barnes hit Prim-Ortiz in the head to get him to stop crying. He reportedly then put the child down for a nap at approximately 1:00 p.m. Barnes' mother came home later and found that Prim-Ortiz was not breathing. The child was pronounced dead at the hospital at 4:00 p.m., with multiple skull fractures listed as the cause of death.

Santa Ana police arrested Barnes after conducting an investigation. Prosecutors charged Barnes with two felony counts, murder and child abuse. His trial began in October 2011 in a Santa Ana courtroom. Prosecutors had to rely on circumstantial evidence, since no one witnessed the alleged abuse. Medical evidence from the autopsy showed that Prim-Ortiz had numerous "linear fractures" on the right side of his skull and a 4½-inch fracture on the left side, with three serious skull fractures in total. Prosecutors also argued that Barnes was jealous of Prim-Ortiz's father, fearing the child could cause the parents to reunite.

The jury found Barnes guilty on November 3 of second degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, both felonies under California law. His sentencing, originally scheduled for January 13, took place on February 24. He received the maximum sentence allowed by law, twenty-five years to life in prison.

Continue reading "Orange County Man Gets 25 Years to Life in Prison for Death of Infant" »

Amanda Knox, the American who spent several years in an Italian prison for the murder of her roommate before being cleared and freed, is back in the news with several recent events. The latest news is that she has signed a $4 million book deal to tell the story of her experience in Italy. She is also appealing her conviction in an Italian court for slander. A court had convicted her of falsely implicating bar owner Patrick Lumumba in the 2007 death of her roommate, although Knox says police "manipulated" her into making an accusation against him. Of greatest interest to criminal defense attorneys, however, is the recent news that Italian prosecutors intend to appeal the order from October 2011 overturning Knox's murder conviction.

The story is familiar by now: Knox was an exchange student in Perugia, Italy, sharing a house with British student Meredith Kercher. Kercher's body was discovered in the house on November 2, 2007, the victim of a brutal murder. Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were arrested and charged with the murder. After a trial that included accusations of various missteps by the prosecution, both Knox and Sollecito were convicted in December 2009. Prosecutors accused Knox of killing Kercher in a bizarre ritual, describing her as a "sex-crazed femme fatale." Knox was sentenced to twenty-six years in prison and Sollecito to twenty-five years.

Knoix began the process of appealing her conviction right away. Her attorneys challenged the mostly-circumstantial evidence, pointing out the many circumstances in which physical evidence could have become contaminated, such as the lack of security at the crime scene. The trial and appeal pitted two legal cultures against one another, with prosecutors portraying Knox as a "she-devil" and the American public viewing her as an innocent victim of an unfamiliar legal system.

An appellate court ruled on October 3, 2011 that Knox's conviction for murder should be overturned, although it upheld her slander conviction. Experts appointed by the court had offered testimony about flaws in the police's collection of evidence at the crime scene, and had also challenged prosecution experts' findings linking DNA recovered at the scene to Knox. The DNA evidence proved persuasive to the court. Knox returned home to Seattle several days later.

The prosecutors' appeal of the October 2011 judgment is expected, and it is reportedly a common procedure in the Italian legal system. If prosecutors succeed in getting a new trial, they can retry Knox in absentia. If she is convicted, they may be able to bring her back to Italy through the extradition process. The Italian Supreme Court will only consider the prosecutors' appeal of the appellate court ruling, so it will not consider any new evidence.

Continue reading "Italian Prosecutors Request New Trial in Amanda Knox Case" »

Police arrested a man they suspect of killing four homeless men in Orange County on Friday, January 13 in Anaheim. Itzcoatl Ocampo, a 23 year-old former Marine, faces possible capital murder charges in connection with the killings. The case also includes an unusual implication of the news media, based on allegations that the fourth victim came to Ocampo's attention because of an interview the man gave to the Los Angeles Times. Ocampo's arraignment is currently scheduled for February 17.

Four homeless men have been stabbed to death in northern Orange County since the middle of December 2011. James McGillivray was stabbed to death at a shopping center in Placentia on December 20, followed by Jimmy Middaugh in Anaheim on December 27 and Dutch Smit in Yorba Linda on December 30. The fourth victim, John Berry, was killed on January 13 in Anaheim. All of the men had multiple stab wounds. Ocampo reportedly told police after his arrest that he spent several hours looking for Berry after the Los Angeles Times ran a story about the first three killings. The reporter included a quote from Berry saying he thought the killer was stalking him.

Multiple witnesses called 911 on the evening of January 13 to report Berry's murder in a Carl's, Jr. parking lot in Anaheim. Several bystanders chased Ocampo on foot until he ran into a perimeter set up by police responding to the emergency calls, and he was arrested. The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs had offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the alleged serial killer's arrest. On January 25, the union president presented the reward to Donny Hopkins, who reportedly chased Ocampo into the police perimeter.

According to Ocampo's father, Refugio Ocampo, Itzcoatl Ocampo served in the U.S. Marines from 2006 until his discharge in 2010. He served at least one tour in Iraq during that time. His father described him as "disillusioned" when he came home, and said his mood grew "even darker" when he lost his job and his home. His father is also homeless, having lost his job as a warehouse manager. Ocampo is reportedly now on a "psychological watch" in county jail, where he is being held without bond.

Continue reading "Accused Orange County Homeless Killer Arrested, Charged with Murder" »

A young Oklahoma mother shot and killed an intruder in her home on New Year's Eve, after a 911 operator reportedly told her to "do whatever you can do to protect yourself."

Sarah McKinley, an 18 year-old Blanchard, Oklahoma resident, was home alone with her 3 month-old child when two men, Justin Shane Martin and Dustin Louis Stewart, allegedly tried to break into her mobile home. McKinley's husband had died of lung cancer a few days earlier. Police suspect the two intruders were looking for her husband's pain medication, and may have been under the influence of pain medication at the time.

McKinley barricaded the door to the mobile home with a sofa and called 911, reportedly speaking in a whisper to the operator. The 911 operator dispatched a sheriff's deputy and also notified the Blanchard Police Department. McKinley had a 12-gauge shotgun and a pistol. Martin had been trying aggressively to get the door open, and he finally managed to use his shoulder to force it open. McKinley asked the operator if she should shoot Martin if he made it through the door, and that was when the operator advised her to protect herself. She shot and killed Martin, who was armed with a knife. Stewart almost immediately turned himself in to police. The ordeal lasted a total of twenty-one minutes.

Prosecutors announced on January 4 that they did not intend to file any criminal charges against McKinley, stating that an initial review suggested she had not violated any laws. Her actions seem to fall squarely within the legal principle of self-defense. A person placed in fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury, who then takes reasonably necessary actions to protect themselves, is generally not criminally liable for homicide.

In this case, Martin had spent twenty or more minutes violently attempting to gain entry to the house. Evidence indicates that he and Stewart had been watching McKinley's house for some time. Someone had allegedly poisoned several of McKinley's dogs in the weeks leading up to the attack.

Under these circumstances, McKinley would have been justified in using force to defend herself and her infant son. Since Martin was armed, she could even use deadly force if necessary. Had prosecutors decided to charge her with manslaughter or another homicide-related offense, she still could claim self-defense as a defense to prosecution.

Continue reading "No Criminal Charge for Woman Told to Defend Herself by 911 Operator; Intruder's Accomplice Faces Murder Charge" »

A San Diego judge ruled last month that a man charged with the murder of his estranged wife and her male colleague is mentally fit to stand trial for the murders. Melchor Marabante, a 42 year-old registered nurse, underwent a medical examination after investigators told the court that he may have been under the influence of prescription drugs when the murders occurred. A doctor testified at a preliminary hearing that he treated Marabante for an overdose the morning of the killings. The doctor performing the medical examination for the court issued a written report to the judge stating that Marabante is presently capable of understanding the charges against him and of assisting his lawyer during trial. If convicted, Marabante faces the death penalty or life in prison.

Marabante worked as a licensed vocational nurse at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. His wife, Valerie Marabante, worked there as a registered nurse. The other alleged victim, Bernabe Villamar, also worked there as a licensed vocational nurse. The Marabantes married in April 2009 after a five-year relationship, and they separated in late January or early February 2011. About three weeks before her and Villamar's death, Valerie Marabante had filed for divorce and had Melchor served with papers.

On February 20, 2011, Marabante went to her apartment, reportedly because he suspected her of having an affair, and says he found Valerie and Villamar "kissing and hugging." He then allegedly broke into the house through a patio door and shot both of them to death, using a gun that his brother had previously taken away from him. Various media reports described Marabante's "troubled past." Several friends and members of Marabante's family, including two sons, have described his behavior around the time of the shootings. Friends report that Marabante said the medications he was taking made him feel "weird," and his son said that he thought his father was hallucinating. Marabante also allegedly told friends that he was angry with he wife, and that he wanted to hurt her, days before the shootings. After the shootings, Marabante's son and brother have both said that Marabante said he had done a "bad thing."

Continue reading "San Diego Man Accused of Murdering Two Deemed Mentally Competent to Stand Trial" »

Luis Rosales Rivera lived in a converted garage with Miguel Delacruz and another roommate in Stanton, California. According to Rivera's indictment and conviction, on the night of March 26, 2008, Rivera came home after a night out with friends to find both roommates asleep. He then killed Delacruz as he slept by hitting him multiple times with a four-pound sledgehammer and fled the scene. The other roommate woke up, found Delacruz's body, and told the homeowner, who was in the main house at the time. Delacruz's body was discovered after midnight in an alley, where the homeowner had apparently dragged it. The homeowner was not charged with any crime. Rivera reportedly spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing at a nightclub.

Rivera was arrested and charged with murder. He reportedly told police that he would commit the alleged crime again if he had a chance. At his trial, his attorney did not deny the prosecution's allegations that Rivera attacked Delacruz with the sledgehammer. He characterized Delacruz as a tyrant who subjected Rivera to humiliation and control. Rivera's attorney alleged that Delacruz had tried to stab Rivera at least once, urinated on him, insulted and belittled him and insulted him and his family. He also alleged that Delacruz controlled most aspects of life in the apartment, including forcing Rivera to clean the bathroom and restricting when he could watch the television. Rivera's lawyer claimed that Delacruz woke prior to the attack, and that Rivera killed him because he was afraid of him.

A jury in Orange County convicted Rivera of a single felony count of murder on October 12, 2011. The conviction included an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon. On December 9, a judge considered a statement from the victim's niece, and then sentenced Rivera to twenty-six years imprisonment. Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg described Rivera's crime as "incredibly dangerous" and stated that, if released, he would pose a danger to the public.

At the sentencing hearing, Delacruz's niece, Rebecca Rodriguez, testified that Delacruz was well-regarded in the neighborhood. She stated that he had the nickname "Tio," the Spanish word for "uncle," among neighbors. Rivera and Delacruz both came from Ahuisculco, a small town in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Rodriguez said that Delacruz invited Rivera to live with him. The two lived together with the third roommate for about a year before the murder.

Continue reading "Orange County Man Convicted in Sledgehammer Killing" »

The trial of a man accused of murdering the University of North Carolina student body president in 2008 began on December 7, 2011 in Orange County Criminal Superior Court in Hillsborough. Laurence Alvin Lovette is charged with murder in the death of Eve Carson on March 5, 2008. Jury selection proceeded for a week and ended the afternoon of Tuesday, December 6. Lovette's alleged co-conspirator, Demario Atwater, previously pleaded guilty to both state and federal murder charges and received two consecutive life sentences. Lovette is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, larceny, armed robbery, and possession of stolen goods, all felonies. Because he was only 17 years old at the time of the alleged offense, he does not face the death penalty. If convicted of the murder charge, though, he could face life in prison.

Chapel Hill police found Carson's body after responding to 911 calls reporting a woman screaming and gunshots. Carson had been shot five times with two different guns and left in the middle of the street in a neighborhood near the UNC campus. Prosecutors allege that Lovette and Atwater kidnapped Carson and took her in her car to an ATM. They then allegedly made her withdraw $700, the maximum daily withdrawal amount. The two allegedly continued to use her ATM card after her body was found and withdrew another $700. Police arrested both Lovette and Atwater and charged them with her murder.

The Washington Post provided coverage of the opening statements to the jury. According to prosecutors, both physical evidence and witness testimony will connect the two defendants to the murder. They claim police found Lovette's DNA on the inside door of Carson's vehicle. ATM surveillance footage allegedly shows a man matching Lovette's Description using Carson's card. Friends of the two defendants, including Atwater's girlfriend, will apparently testify as to statements and actions of the two that connect them to the crime. Observers of the trial doubt that prosecutors will call Atwater as a witness.

Lovette's attorney has stated that, although her client knew Atwater, he was not there when the murder occurred. She also observes that many of the prosecution's witnesses have extensive criminal records, with potential motivation to lie. None of the forensic evidence touted by the prosecution, she notes, connects Lovette to the actual murder. Even if his DNA is inside the vehicle and he used the ATM card, that does not prove he committed the alleged crime. The prosecution is instead trying to use the heinous nature of the crime and the popularity of the victim as a means of inflaming the jury and hiding flaws in their case.

Continue reading "Trial Begins for Alleged Murder of North Carolina College Student" »

One of Orange County's most notorious murder cases was back in the news last month, when Omaima Nelson, convicted of murdering her husband and then dismembering his body and eating parts of it, came up for parole. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the grisly murder, which led prosecutors at the time to compare her to the movie villain Hannibal Lecter. After a lengthy hearing in early October of this year, the parole board denied parole.

The Egyptian-born Nelson reportedly endured abuse as a child that she described as "unimaginable." She met William Nelson in 1991 and married him within weeks. After only three weeks of marriage, William Nelson died. The prosecutor from the original trial, Randolph J. Pawloski, recounted the crime scene, where police found plastic bags and suitcases soaked with blood, body parts in a fry cooker, and Mr. Nelson's head in the refrigerator. In addition to a charge of murder, prosecutors accused Nelson of eating parts of her husband's body.

Nelson claimed at her trial that her husband revealed a violent side after their wedding, and that she killed him in self-defense when he tried to strangle her after violently abusing and raping her. The prosecution disputed this, claiming that Nelson had a pattern of trading on her sexuality to obtain favors and support from numerous men. They further argued that her "con games" had grown more and more violent. A psychiatrist who testified at Nelson's trial said that she admitted to cooking and eating her husband after spending hours chopping up the body.

After six days of deliberations, the jury rejected Nelson's claim that she acted in self-defense after weeks of constant abuse. They convicted her of second-degree murder and sentenced her to 27 years to life in prison. An appellate court upheld her conviction in 2000. She has served her sentence at California Central Women's Prison.

Nelson had previously requested early release from prison in 2006, claiming she had become a born-again Christian and had remarried. Commissioners denied her request, saying they found her "unpredictable" and a continued threat to the public. Nelson requested early release again this year, which led to last month's hearing. She told parole officials that she was a "changed woman," and vehemently denied committing any acts of cannibalism. She expressed remorse over Mr. Nelson's death but maintained that she acted in self-defense, and said that she would return to Egypt to live with her family if released. Pawloski took the rare step of attending the hearing in person and offering testimony in opposition to her early release. Mr. Nelson's daughter also attended and testified against Nelson's parole. The two-person board again denied the request for early release.

Continue reading "Parole Denied Twenty Years after Gruesome Orange County Murder Case" »

A shooting at an Orange County hair salon that left eight people dead and one injured has led to both criminal charges and a series of civil lawsuits for the accused gumman, presenting an issue for criminal defense attorneys about how our civil and criminal justice systems intersect. On October 12, 2011, Scott Dekraai allegedly walked into an upscale hair salon in Seal Beach, California and opened fire, shooting eight people and wounding one. Among the dead was Dekraai's ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, the alleged target of the shooting. Authorities say Dekraai targeted Fournier because of frustration over an ongoing custody dispute. Dekraai and Fournier have an eight year-old son who is now living with relatives.

Prosecutors charged Dekraai with eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, one count for each shooting victim, and have announced their intention to seek the death penalty. Dekraai supposedly gave a confession to police after his arrest. He is scheduled for arraignment on November 29. How he intends to plead is not yet known, but his purported confession to police does not obligate him to enter a guilty plea. Some news analysts have speculated about a possible insanity plea, given news reports of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, but nothing is certain yet.

Dekraai is also now the defendant in two civil lawsuits for the wrongful death of two of the shooting victims, including Fournier. First, Fournier's parents filed suit seeking to freeze Dekraai's assets in order to obtain compensation for Dekraai and Fournier's son. Next, the husband of victim Christy Wilson filed suit on behalf of Wilson's estate, himself, and their three children, requesting compensation for medical and funeral bills and "loss of companionship."

In both cases, the plaintiffs seek monetary damages from Dekraai, unlike the criminal case, which seeks imprisonment or the death penalty. The civil plaintiffs face a lower burden of proof than criminal prosecutors, needing only to show by a preponderance of evidence, essentially meaning "more likely than not," that Dekraai caused Fournier's and Wilson's deaths. Prosecutors must prove guilt "beyond and reasonable doubt," meaning jurors must find no reasonable alternate to the prosecution's theory of the case.

Continue reading "Shooting in Orange County Hair Salon Presents both Criminal and Civil Legal Questions" »

The murder of Bill McLaughlin, a millionaire healthcare entrepreneur, in 1994 went unsolved for fifteen years. In a development straight out of a crime thriller, police arrested and charged two people with the murder in 2009: McLaughlin's girlfriend/fiancee, Nannette Johnston, and her ex-boyfriend Eric Naposki. Naposki, a former NFL player who played for the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, was convicted of first-degree murder in July 2011 and awaits life in prison without parole. Johnston's trial is scheduled to begin later this month.

McLaughlin was an entrepreneur who invented a device used in medical labs to separate plasma from blood. The invention made him millions, and at the time of his death he was worth around $55 million. He met Johnston, twenty-five years his junior, through a magazine ad she had placed seeking an older, wealthy man. He offered her a life of luxury, taking her on trips around the world and providing her a considerable allowance. After one year of dating, even though family members would later say that they saw no real love between the two, McLaughlin proposed marriage. He also added Johnston to his will.

During the evening of December 15, 1994, someone entered McLaughlin's home in Newport Beach and shot him six times in the chest. Police in the affluent community had little experience investigating a murder, and the crime scene offered few clues. They looked at family members and business associates, ruling out many suspects. Johnston allegedly told investigators that she had attended her son's soccer game and then gone shopping, arriving home around 10 p.m., after McLaughlin was shot. Although she had receipts to show she had gone shopping, witnesses said she had been at the soccer game with someone else. That person turned out to be Naposki.

After the trail went cold, Johnston pleaded guilty to writing checks to herself from McLaughlin's bank account, including a $250,000 check on the day of his death. She spent a year in jail beginning in 1996 for that offense. New evidence obtained by police led them to Johnston and Naposki in 2009. Evidence in Naposki's trial indicated that he shot and killed McLaughlin after receiving a key to the house from Johnston. According to authorities, Johnston talked Naposki into the murder. She allegedly wanted to collect on a $1 million life insurance policy. She also stood to inherit about $150,000 from McLaughlin. Naposki continues to maintain his innocence, claiming so in a recent television interview.

Continue reading "Trial Set to Begin for 1994 Murder of Orange County Millionaire" »