PROSECUTOR: TEEN KEY IN BOY'S SLAYING.Byline: Marianne McCarthy Special to the Daily News SANTA BARBARA Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. - A prosecutor in the retrial retrial n. a new trial granted upon the motion of the losing party, based on obvious error, bias or newly-discovered evidence. (See: newly-discovered evidence) of a 19-year-old Goleta man charged with murdering Nicholas Markowitz said Wednesday that he will prove the defendant was a key conspirator conspirator n. a person or entity who enters into a plot with one or more other people or entities to commit illegal acts, legal acts with an illegal object, or using illegal methods, to the harm of others. in the August 2000 shooting death of the West Hills boy. Jurors in his first trial acquitted Graham Pressley of kidnapping Nicholas, 15, but deadlocked on a murder charge. Prosecutors opted to retry re·try tr.v. re·tried , re·try·ing, re·tries To try again. Verb 1. retry - hear or try a court case anew rehear him, although several jurors in the first trial expressed doubt he could be convicted. But prosecutor Ron Zonen told the new jury he intends to prove Pressley was involved in the brutal killing of Nicholas, who was shot nine times and buried near a popular Santa Barbara area hiking spot called Lizard's Mouth. ``He was the one familiar with Lizard's Mouth. He'd been there many times before,'' Zonen said, adding that Pressley admitted to police he helped dig the boy's grave. But Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Michael Ganschow said Pressley participated in Nicholas' slaying because he was afraid of Jesse James Hollywood Jesse James Hollywood (born January 28, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) was a drug dealer and fugitive. He allegedly kidnapped and ordered the murder of Nicholas Markowitz. , the alleged mastermind of the slaying scheme. ``My client could have just as easily lost his life that night,'' Ganschow said. ``There were two young victims that night. Unfortunately, only one survived.'' Ganschow plans to call several character witnesses to testify that Pressley is incapable of murder. Pressley is one of five men who prosecutors say kidnapped and murdered Nicholas because of a drug debt his older half brother owed Hollywood, who is a fugitive believed to be in Canada. A jury has recommended the death penalty for Ryan Hoyt Hoyt is the posse member of Jesse James Hollywood who was convicted of the slaying of Nick Markowitz on August 9, 2000. He reportedly owed Hollywood money for drugs and was offered the opportunity to kill Markowitz as a way of erasing his debt. of West Hills, the accused triggerman, who was convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder. Jesse Rugge, also from West Hills, was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison for his conviction on kidnapping charges. William Skidmore of Simi Valley pleaded guilty to kidnap and robbery and is serving a five-year prison sentence. |
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