Hollywood prosecutor admits to misdemeanor
9/21/05
By SCOTT HADLY
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Prosecutor says he shouldn't be disqualified
The prosecutor in the Jesse James Hollywood murder and kidnapping trial may have committed a misdemeanor when he gave certain information to the makers of a new film, but that shouldn't disqualify him from handling the case, according to court documents.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen may have inadvertently given the makers of the yet-to-be released movie, "Alpha Dog," rap sheets and information about witnesses, and while that might be "evidence of carelessness," it doesn't amount to bias, according to a district attorney's motion submitted for a hearing Tuesday.
After his March capture in Brazil, Mr. Hollywood, 25, pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the August 2000 kidnapping and killing of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz. Prosecutors allege Nicholas' death was the culmination of an escalating feud between Mr. Hollywood and the teenager's older half-brother over a $1,200 drug debt. After the teen's body was found off West Camino Cielo, Mr. Hollywood disappeared. He and four others were indicted for the killing by a Santa Barbara County grand jury.
While Mr. Hollywood was on the run, three of the co-defendants were tried and convicted and another pleaded guilty. All are now serving time and one, the alleged triggerman, Ryan Hoyt, is now on death row.
"Alpha Dog," which is set to be released early next year, stars Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis and Justin Timberlake. It has been shown once to preview audiences. Mr. Hollywood's attorney, James Blatt, who saw the movie, said it is hewn directly from the prosecution's version of events and depicts his client as "extremely manipulative, vicious, selfish and without any redeeming character traits whatsoever."
In a motion filed last week, Mr. Blatt called the cooperation between Mr. Zonen and the filmmaker, Nick Cassavetes, "unprecedented misconduct."
Mr. Blatt said Mr. Zonen told Mr. Cassavetes' researcher that the case against Mr. Hollywood and his four co-defendants would be his "legacy" and that he planned to write a book.
But in the response written by Senior Deputy District Attorney Gerald Franklin for Tuesday's hearing, Mr. Franklin points out that talking about writing a book and actually writing one are two different things.
"There probably is a book in every prosecutor who has made a career of prosecuting serious felonies," Mr. Franklin said.
To show some sort of conflict, Mr. Blatt has to show that Mr. Zonen has a personal interest or financial benefit in the outcome of the trial and there is none, according to Mr. Franklin.
"There is nothing in (Mr. Blatt's) screed that remotely suggests that (Deputy District Attorney) Zonen has a personal interest in securing the conviction of Defendant Hollywood distinct from a professional interest in bringing all Santa Barbara murderers to book, apart from the sharpened focus that necessarily attends being assigned a particular case to prosecute and having to prepare it for trial (in this case five times over)," Mr. Franklin said in the motion. "There is nothing to suggest that (Deputy District Attorney) Zonen is under the influence of a private party with a personal interest in securing Hollywood's conviction."
Mr. Franklin said the court should assume that Mr. Zonen did help the filmmakers "in the production of a truthful, if dramatized, account of the Markowitz murder, at least in part, by the likelihood that the film would generate interest in a wider public (some of it overseas) concerning the whereabouts of fugitive-defendant Jesse James Hollywood."
The film does not depict any facts of the case that were not already known, according to Mr. Franklin. That makes it unclear how Mr. Zonen's cooperation disclosed anything that was not known already, he said. Mr. Franklin went on to say that the inadvertent disclosure of witnesses' names and addresses and rap sheets was indeed a misdemeanor violation of the law, but that does not show a conflict of interest. Mr. Zonen was not paid for his consulting on the film.
Mr. Blatt said Tuesday that he intends to respond to the district attorney by the end of this week. And he hopes to get a sworn declaration from Mr. Cassavetes, the movie's writer and director.
In court he told Judge Brian Hill that Michael Mehas, an attorney who helped Mr. Cassavetes research the case and write the script, had stopped cooperating with the defense. Mr. Blatt indicated that he might have to haul Mr. Mehas into court to ask him about what other kinds of information were given to him during his research.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1.
Source: http://news.newspress.com/topsports/092105...05hollywood.htm
9/21/05
By SCOTT HADLY
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
Prosecutor says he shouldn't be disqualified
The prosecutor in the Jesse James Hollywood murder and kidnapping trial may have committed a misdemeanor when he gave certain information to the makers of a new film, but that shouldn't disqualify him from handling the case, according to court documents.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen may have inadvertently given the makers of the yet-to-be released movie, "Alpha Dog," rap sheets and information about witnesses, and while that might be "evidence of carelessness," it doesn't amount to bias, according to a district attorney's motion submitted for a hearing Tuesday.
After his March capture in Brazil, Mr. Hollywood, 25, pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the August 2000 kidnapping and killing of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz. Prosecutors allege Nicholas' death was the culmination of an escalating feud between Mr. Hollywood and the teenager's older half-brother over a $1,200 drug debt. After the teen's body was found off West Camino Cielo, Mr. Hollywood disappeared. He and four others were indicted for the killing by a Santa Barbara County grand jury.
While Mr. Hollywood was on the run, three of the co-defendants were tried and convicted and another pleaded guilty. All are now serving time and one, the alleged triggerman, Ryan Hoyt, is now on death row.
"Alpha Dog," which is set to be released early next year, stars Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis and Justin Timberlake. It has been shown once to preview audiences. Mr. Hollywood's attorney, James Blatt, who saw the movie, said it is hewn directly from the prosecution's version of events and depicts his client as "extremely manipulative, vicious, selfish and without any redeeming character traits whatsoever."
In a motion filed last week, Mr. Blatt called the cooperation between Mr. Zonen and the filmmaker, Nick Cassavetes, "unprecedented misconduct."
Mr. Blatt said Mr. Zonen told Mr. Cassavetes' researcher that the case against Mr. Hollywood and his four co-defendants would be his "legacy" and that he planned to write a book.
But in the response written by Senior Deputy District Attorney Gerald Franklin for Tuesday's hearing, Mr. Franklin points out that talking about writing a book and actually writing one are two different things.
"There probably is a book in every prosecutor who has made a career of prosecuting serious felonies," Mr. Franklin said.
To show some sort of conflict, Mr. Blatt has to show that Mr. Zonen has a personal interest or financial benefit in the outcome of the trial and there is none, according to Mr. Franklin.
"There is nothing in (Mr. Blatt's) screed that remotely suggests that (Deputy District Attorney) Zonen has a personal interest in securing the conviction of Defendant Hollywood distinct from a professional interest in bringing all Santa Barbara murderers to book, apart from the sharpened focus that necessarily attends being assigned a particular case to prosecute and having to prepare it for trial (in this case five times over)," Mr. Franklin said in the motion. "There is nothing to suggest that (Deputy District Attorney) Zonen is under the influence of a private party with a personal interest in securing Hollywood's conviction."
Mr. Franklin said the court should assume that Mr. Zonen did help the filmmakers "in the production of a truthful, if dramatized, account of the Markowitz murder, at least in part, by the likelihood that the film would generate interest in a wider public (some of it overseas) concerning the whereabouts of fugitive-defendant Jesse James Hollywood."
The film does not depict any facts of the case that were not already known, according to Mr. Franklin. That makes it unclear how Mr. Zonen's cooperation disclosed anything that was not known already, he said. Mr. Franklin went on to say that the inadvertent disclosure of witnesses' names and addresses and rap sheets was indeed a misdemeanor violation of the law, but that does not show a conflict of interest. Mr. Zonen was not paid for his consulting on the film.
Mr. Blatt said Tuesday that he intends to respond to the district attorney by the end of this week. And he hopes to get a sworn declaration from Mr. Cassavetes, the movie's writer and director.
In court he told Judge Brian Hill that Michael Mehas, an attorney who helped Mr. Cassavetes research the case and write the script, had stopped cooperating with the defense. Mr. Blatt indicated that he might have to haul Mr. Mehas into court to ask him about what other kinds of information were given to him during his research.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1.
Source: http://news.newspress.com/topsports/092105...05hollywood.htm