Hollywood capital murder trial to start Friday

By COLBY FRAZIER — May 13, 2009

A Santa Barbara County jury of nine women and three men will decide over the course of the next month whether Jesse James Hollywood should face the death penalty for allegedly masterminding the execution-style killing of a 15-year-old boy in 2000.

The final alternate jury member was selected yesterday in Superior Court, where over the course of the last two weeks, attorneys from the prosecution and defense grilled more than 300 potential jury members.

The selection of the jury comes nine years after 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz was kidnapped and shot to death in the Santa Barbara foothills.

Prosecutors say Hollywood orchestrated the slaying. The defendant has been charged with murder in connection to Nicholas’s death, and faces the death penalty.

Joshua Lynn, chief trial deputy for the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, said the jury was selected from four pools of 90 people. Two additional pools filled out jury questionnaires, but were not needed.

“I love the jury,” he said after court. I’m just “happy to get the process going, happy to finally get to tell Nick’s story. It’s that simple.”

Opening statements are expected to begin Friday, with the prosecution’s case set to begin Monday.

A drug debt owed to Hollywood by Nicholas’s older brother allegedly prompted the abduction and eventual killing.

While four of Hollywood’s friends were arrested for their involvement in the killing shortly after Nicholas’s body was found, Hollywood evaded arrest for five years. He was arrested in Brazil on March 8, 2005.

Before Hollywood was caught, all of the other defendants in the case had been tried.

The shooter, Ryan Hoyt, was sentenced in 2003 to the death penalty. Jesse Rugge was sentenced in 2002 to life with the possibility of parole, William Skidmore plea bargained to nine years with parole and Graham Pressley, who dug the victim’s grave, was sentenced as a youth in 2003 and has since been released.

Since Hollywood’s arrest, the case has been muddied by high-profile publicity, including the film “Alpha Dog,” which starred, among others, Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch and Justin Timberlake.

During the making of the film, producers reportedly relied heavily on documents they obtained from Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen, who prosecuted Hollywood’s four friends and was set to do the same to Hollywood.

Hollywood’s attorneys said Zonen erred in his cooperation with filmmakers and asked that he be removed from the case.

After the California Supreme Court ruled that Zonen could stay on, Hollywood’s attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the appeal, essentially opening the door for Zonen to stay on.

However, long before the U.S. Supreme Court decision, District Attorney Christie Stanley took the veteran prosecutor off the case.

Even so, Hollywood’s attorneys feared that “Alpha Dog,” which grossed $30.7 million during its six-week release, would have a widespread impact on the jury pool. Over the next two days, attorneys from both sides will be discussing various legal motions with the judge. It is unknown if a change of venue will be among them.

While there’s little doubt the film heightened the level of public awareness about the case, it’s difficult to tell if it impacted jury selection, though the fact that nearly 200 potential jurors were waiting in the wings yesterday could be an indicator that the public wasn’t as saturated with information on the case as defense attorneys thought.

Lynn declined to say if he felt the jury selection process was impacted by media coverage, but said he doubts a change of venue request will be granted, if the defense asks for it.

Judge Brian Hill yesterday said cameras will be barred from the courtroom. He admonished the jury from watching local television news stations. He said lack of cameras in the courtroom will likely reduce television coverage.

In an effort to further protect the jury, Hill said they would be sequestered to the court building (the case is being tried in the Jury Services Building at 1108 Santa Barbara St.), and its adjoining courtyard during lunch breaks.

Death penalty cases are tried in two parts. The first is a guilt phase and the second is a penalty phase. If unanimous guilt is found in the first phase, it then moves to the second.

Hill said the first phase should take two to three weeks. In the event the case moves to the penalty phase, roughly the same time frame would be needed, indicating the trial could conclude by the middle of June, he said.

“I am looking forward to start trying this case,” Hollywood’s attorney, James Blatt, said after court. “We are confident and optimistic about obtaining a favorable outcome.”

Comment on this article

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: 5/13/2009

Is this the kid that was shot at Lizard Rock?

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to the above poster : 5/14/2009

I'm guessing you've probably been sleeping under that rock for the past CENTURY.... and btw its Lizard's Mouth

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# : 5/14/2009

Damn...I hope he gets the punishment he deserves!

!

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: 5/14/2009

I hope this is all over.

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Jesse James Holllywood : 5/14/2009

I'm wondering to what extent the movie ALPHA DOG follows the real-life timeline of the murder and its consequences?

al from chicago

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al from chicago : 5/15/2009

If you do the research on wikipedia and some other useful websites, using the real names of involved e.g. Jesse James Hollywood, Jesse Rugge e.c.t. you will get a very detailed account of what happened in the real life events. You will realise that apart from the name changes and date changes, the story and the time-line of it is un-believably accurate. If you noticed in the article above I think it mentions something about the D.A. Ron Zoren co-operating with the producers of ALPHA DOG to get the story straight. It's a fasinating story but and a great film too!

Matt, Aus

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: 5/15/2009

first of all i think that the judge shouldn't have banned cameras from the court room. This story is going to make headlines anyways and everyones going to know about it. And as a mother. I feel very strongly that I should know about it as well as everyother parent that knows of this story. I want to make sure that sick S.O.B.s like J.J. Hollywood get what they deserve from the court. and I would like to witness that the court is upholding fair justice. Infact they should put it right on the news and let the whole world see this man go down. I dont know what they think they r pretecting by not letting cameras in the court room....

Sarah

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tsk tsk sarah : 5/18/2009

u haven't even heard all the details yet you are already assured of him being guilty. I'm not saying, he's not guilty, but I definitely wouldn't make a ignorant decision based off a movie and what wikipedia says. People like u r the reason there's been so many innocent people wrongly convicted. Thank God for DNA evidence, as it correctly convicts the guilty, and releases the poor innocent prisoners that have spent years and years of their life, because of a stupid dinosaur sized brain jury. DNA is idiot proof, unlike u Sarah

mr.kool321

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not guilty : 5/19/2009

this guy did not do the crime.....the other 4 guys panicked and killed the kid... get it right

innocent

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Reply to: Not Guilty : 5/22/2009

Do the research, not just on "wikipedia" or watching a bloody movie, I am talking about factual evidence readily and easily available to the public at any time. Media reports (reliable ones - I'll leave you to decide the difference), police and case reports ect. . . There is such a thing called "Conspiracy to commit murder". It is basically the same as paying someone to do it for you. Like the comment above you states, it has not yet been decided if he is guilty or not, but the evidence is largely not in his favour. Perhaps read the article and learn the definitions of "allegedly" and "mastermind". Then when you have all that information, come back to the majority of the people who have actually looked up the reliable factual evidence and testemonies of the witnesses involved and tell me that there isn't a big CHANCE that he is guilty. (Oh look up that one too!) - Hey, 38 witnesses and rock hard evidence can't be simutaniously lying.

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