A homicide prosecutor has told an Orange County jury he can show a unique circumstances murder instance against a new Lake Forest guy accused of having intercourse together with target one 2009 evening and coming back the after evening to rob and destroy him.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy claims police that is solid shows Matthew Thomas Dragna (along with his enthusiast, Jacob Anthony Quintanilla) murdered Damon Nicholson, a favorite Laguna Beach resort banquet supervisor, after which experimented with offer the target’s home to many other hoodlums.
Murphy stated in Wednesday’s opening declaration it does not matter which defendant swung the baseball bat that smashed the rear of Nicholson’s skull in October 2009 because Dragna and Quintanilla, whom faces a split test at a subsequent date, are both legitimately responsible.
But Frank Bittar, Dragna’s veteran attorney from the Orange County Public Defender’s workplace, told jurors that Laguna Beach Police Department detectives jumped to erroneous conclusions after their uneducated, inarticulate customer, then the 19-year-old highschool dropout, over and over over and over repeatedly lied during initial interviews.
“There’s simply no proof Matt laid a hand on that guy on the evening for the murder,” said Bittar, who also utilized their opening statement to claim there is certainly “no question” the killer that is lone Quintanilla. “Common feeling is important right right here.”
If the duo are fundamentally convicted associated with criminal activity, they are able to decrease as two of this dumbest criminals in local history.
Murphy stated the killers took Nicholson’s red, Sprint cellular phone from their Laguna Beach apartment on Dolphin Method near Heisler Park and afterward tossed it in a trashcan about 12 miles away at the The Timbers Apartments.
Offered cellular phone monitoring technology, the move quickly received detectives towards the flats, that was where Dragna and Quintanilla lived making use of their moms.
Evidence accumulated during queries additionally linked the 2 males towards the murder, in accordance with Murphy.
Bittar said Dragna and something of their older, male fans visited Nicholson’s house regarding the night ahead of the killing.
The males had a threesome that included a “kinky” scenario in which the victim liked to split available their sliding cup home, turn all lights off, strip, spot a bonnet over their mind, log in to their arms and knees for a blanket put on the family area flooring and watch for guys to enter for fairly anonymous intercourse, based on the general public defender.
The night that is next escorted Quintanilla to Nicholson’s house just “to facilitate intercourse” for their pal as the man “gave good head,” said Bittar, whom claims chatango app Dragna stayed inside an automobile and unacquainted with the murder.
Bittar concedes Dragna doesn’t always have “clean hands” because DNA proof suggests he joined the criminal activity scene to simply help Quintanilla eliminate Nicholson’s home, including his laptop computer, in a trash case.
That involvement means the defendant had been just an accessory following the reality, in accordance with the protection lawyer, whom apologized to jurors in what could be visual evidence that is sexual in the test.
Nicholson’s co-worker during the resort Laguna discovered him slumped over and face down on their white settee following the often punctual banquet manager, whom lived alone in a two room apartment, didn’t show up in the office.
Murphy stated the autopsy proved Nicholson have been “bludgeoned to death” with a “cylindrical object.”
In accordance with court public records, Adam4Adam.com, A dating that is gay, connected the majority of the males active in the situation.
The test is anticipated to finish inside Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler’s Santa Ana courtroom ahead of the xmas getaway.
Dragna, now 23, features a unlawful rap sheet which includes previous burglary and narcotics beliefs, in accordance with court public records.
A judge planned a January 10 hearing that is pre-trial the 25-year-old Quintanilla.
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the season honors during the Los Angeles Press Club; been called Distinguished Journalist of the season because of the Los Angeles Society of pro Journalists; obtained one of many final exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won addition in Jeffrey Toobin’s the most effective American criminal activity Reporting for their protection of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that lead to the FBI arrests and beliefs regarding the top three standing people of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from ny days Magazine authors for their “herculean work” exposing entrenched Southern Ca police force corruption.