Recent Posts in Murder Category

Food Network's former Calorie Commando host, Juan-Carlos Cruz, was arrested last Thursday for hiring homeless men to murder his wife, attorney Jennifer Campbell. 

Cruz allegedly approached three homeless men in Santa Monica and offered them $1,000.00 to commit homicide for him.  Cruz gave the men ten $100.00 bills that had been ripped in half, saying he'd give the other halves of the bills when the job was finished.  Cruz also gave them a cell phone, which has texts from Cruz saying that he has backup hit men lined up if the three of them were to back out. 

The three men informed the city's homeless liaison officers of the solicitation, giving a detailed description of how, where and when the homicide was to take place.  Investigators launched a weeklong undercover operation in which one of the homeless men, nicknamed Big Dave, agreed to wear a wire while speaking with Cruz regarding the hit.  The investigation ended with Cruz's arrest in a Cheviot Hills dog park on Thursday.

Cruz has been charged with two felony counts including one count of attempted murder and one count of solicitation to commit murder.  He has plead not guilty to both counts and will be back in court on June 23 for the preliminary hearing.  His bail has been set at $2 million.

Music producer Phil Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his mansion six years ago. Spector, a music producer, reigned as the hit maker supreme in the 1960's with such songs as the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin"' and the Ronettes' classic, "Be My Baby."

Los Angles prosecutors had previously failed to obtain convictions in "celebrity cases" with acquittals of stars such as O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake and Michael Jackson. In fact, Spector's first trial resulted in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked and as unable to reach a verdict.

In closing arguments Spector's defense attorney Doron Weinberg, listed 14 points of forensic evidence including blood spatter, gunshot residue and DNA, which he said were proof of a self-inflicted wound.   "It's very difficult to put a gun in somebody's mouth," he said.  "Every single fact says this is a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Weinberg argued.

But prosecutors portrayed Spector as a dangerous man who became a "demonic maniac" when he drank and had a history of threatening women with guns. They also contended blood spatter evidence proved that Clarkson could not have shot herself.

Under California law which allows prosecutors to introduce evidence of similar prior acts to demonstrate a pattern of conduct by a criminal defendant, they presented testimony from five women who told of being threatened by a drunken Spector, even held hostage in his home, with a gun pointed at them and threats of death if they tried to leave.

A Superior Court jury returned the verdict after about 30 hours of deliberations. The jury had the option of choosing involuntary manslaughter, but did not do so. The jury also found Spector personally used a firearm in committing the crime.

Spector's bail was revoked following the jury's verdict and he was remanded into custody pending sentencing. Spector's conviction of second-degree murder carries a penalty of 15 years to life in prison. The allegation of personal use of a gun carries an additional three year prison sentence. Therefore, under California law Spector will most likely be sentenced to a minimum of 18 years to life in prison.

Numerous members of the "Manson Family" are seeking parole from California state prison after serving decades in prison for their notorious string of brutal murders. The followers of Charles Manson committed the murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in a two-night rampage that terrorized the city of Los Angeles, California, in August 1969. The Manson family members were initially sentenced to death following their conviction at trial, only to have their sentences commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down death penalty laws in 1972.

Since that time, Manson family members Susan Atkins, Charles "Tex" Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten have repeatedly been described as model prisoners who have accepted responsibility for their crimes. Susan Atkins is terminally ill with cancer and Charles "Tex" Watson is an ordained minister.  Parole boards, however, continue to reject their bids for release, and a debate rages over whether the four should ever be freed. Atkins, California's longest-serving female inmate requested a "compassionate release" from the California Board of Parole Hearings in July. She has terminal brain cancer, doctors say. The board unanimously denied her request.

By her own admission, Atkins held Tate down as she pleaded for mercy, and stabbed the eight-months-pregnant woman 16 times. In a 1993 parole board hearing, Atkins said Tate "asked me to let  her baby live ... I told her I didn't have any mercy on her."  After stabbing Tate to death, Atkins scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home Tate shared with her husband, film director Roman Polanski, who was not home at the time. Three of Tate's house guests were also slain, as was a teenager who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage out back.

Atkins' release was opposed by Tate's sister, Debra, Los Angeles County prosecutors and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. However, the former prosecutor who won her conviction, Vincent Bugliosi, said he supported Atkins' request for release based on her medical condition.