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Thread: Ryan James Hoyt - California Death Row

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    Ryan James Hoyt - California Death Row


    Ryan James Hoyt


    Summary of Offense:

    An associate of Jesse James Hollywood. Convicted and sentenced to death in the murder 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. During his trial, Hoyt took the stand and told the court he didn't remember killing Markowitz. Hoyt threatened to kill his accomplices if they revealed what happened. In November 2001, in Santa Barbara County, Hoyt was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. He currently is on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison in California. In September 2002 Jesse Rugge was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after seven years.

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    Court Hears Appeal of Hollywood Murder Conviction

    With the victim’s mother and father watching from the front row, an attorney for Jesse James Hollywood — convicted in the 2000 murder of 15-year-old Nick Markowitz — argued in front of a panel of the California Court of Appeal last week that the conviction should be overturned.

    Though not present at the time Markowitz was shot to death by Ryan Hoyt near Lizard’s Mouth in the hills above Santa Barbara, Hollywood was convicted in 2009 under the felony murder rule — that is, when a person is killed during the commission of another felony, all those involved in that felony can be liable for the murder.

    Hollywood, in testifying during his own trial, admitted to being involved in the original kidnapping of Markowitz. The boy had been out walking in West Hills in the San Fernando Valley — where both Hollywood and Markowitz lived at the time — when Hollywood and some of his buddies came across Markowitz.

    Hollywood had been feuding with Markowitz’s older brother, Ben, who had an outstanding drug debt he owed to Hollywood, according to testimony at the trial. Hollywood and others he was with roughed up Markowitz and threw him in the car, taking him with them on a trip to Santa Barbara for Fiesta.

    But Hollywood’s attorney is arguing that there were actually two separate kidnappings in the events leading up to Markowitz’s death. “This is a complicated case,” Goleta-based attorney Ralph Goldsen told the three-judge panel Thursday afternoon in Ventura.

    Once in Santa Barbara, Hollywood maintained, the kidnapping was over and Nick was free to go. It’s an intriguing explanation. Several witnesses testified to partying with Nick, that he was smoking marijuana, playing video games, and drinking beer — sometimes with Hollywood — and when told he should leave, declined. Hollywood testified that he himself asked the teen if he wanted to go home, to which Markowitz replied, “No, it’s cool.” Hollywood was not present during much of Markowitz’s time in Santa Barbara.

    “Nick’s apparent consent to remain in Santa Barbara was the defense upon which [Hollywood] was actually relying,” Goldsen wrote in his brief. “It was a defense supported by ample, overwhelming evidence. Virtually every third party, and [Hollywood] himself, testified that they believed Nick was consenting to stay in Santa Barbara.”

    Goldsen said in his arguments Thursday that a second, separate kidnapping occurred the night Markowitz was killed. Markowitz was in a hotel room with Jesse Rugge and Graham Pressley, when Hoyt arrived with a duffel bag. Hollywood — who was having dinner with his girlfriend in the L.A. area at the time — testified he had given instructions to Hoyt to bring the boy home. But Hoyt took Pressley to Lizard’s Mouth, made him dig a hole, and returned to the Lemon Tree Inn. There the two picked up Rugge and Markowitz and returned to Lizard’s Mouth, where Hoyt shot the boy. This all took place, Goldsen contends, without Hollywood’s knowledge.

    The first kidnapping — the one Hollywood had participated in, Goldsen said — had terminated, thus cutting off his liability. Hollywood is further distanced because Hoyt could not be considered a co-felon in the first kidnapping (he was not present), Goldsen claims.

    But David Glassman, an attorney with the Attorney General’s office, said that Hoyt killed Markowitz at Hollywood’s direction. “It’s ludicrous to assert when Mr. Hoyt shows up ready to kill that is an idea that sprang up from his own mind independently,” Glassman said. There are many ways to look at the evidence, Glassman asserted, but “virtually all of them are incriminating.”

    “If a juror decided under the facts of this case the kidnapping ended and a new one started, it could still end up in conviction,” he said.

    At appeal, the case isn’t re-litigated, but the court looks to see if there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s decision. A juror interviewed after the trial by The Independent shortly after the trial said, “Jesse James Hollywood was responsible from when Nick was put into the van to his death.”

    This is the second time Hollywood’s case has been in front of the Court of Appeal. The court also deliberated over whether prosecutor Ron Zonen should have been taken off the case for assisting producers of the major motion picture Alpha Dog, which starred Justin Timberlake and Emile Hirsch. The case eventually made its way to the state Supreme Court, which ruled that while Zonen should’ve proceeded with more caution in helping out with the movie. (He did so, he said, to increase publicity about the case, as Hollywood hadn’t been captured at the time. He wasn’t arrested until 2005, when he was tracked down in a small Brazilian fishing town.)

    Hollywood, now 32, is currently serving his sentence in Calipatria State Prison. Rugge — convicted of aggravated kidnapping — is eligible for parole, but was denied his last time in front of the parole board, which noted he had made steps in rehabilitating himself, but not enough to be freed. Hoyt is on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison, awaiting his appeal to be heard. Pressley was sentenced as a juvenile and is now free.

    The justices will have 90 days to issue a decision. Their opinion can be appealed to the California Supreme Court, but the likelihood of the state’s high court of hearing the case is small.

    http://independent.com/news/2012/feb...er-conviction/

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    PEOPLE v. HOLLYWOOD

    On Monday, the Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Six AFFIRMED the judgement set forth on Jesse James Hollywood.

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    Hollywood Murder Conviction Upheld

    Appellate Court Quickly Delivers Decision

    A court of appeal has affirmed a Santa Barbara jury’s conviction of Jesse James Hollywood in the 2000 murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz.

    Hollywood, now 32, is currently serving life in prison without parole for masterminding the homicide. Markowitz was shot to death by Hollywood’s friend, Ryan Hoyt, near Lizard’s Mouth in Santa Barbara in August 2000, three or so days after being kidnapped by Hollywood. Authorities alleged the kidnapping and subsequent murder was the result of a feud between Hollywood and Markowitz’s older brother, Ben, who owed Hollywood drug money.

    Hollywood had argued that even though he participated in the original kidnapping, he was not responsible for the teen’s death. He said that the kidnapping had ended, and Markowitz was free to go at anytime. Though Hollywood brought Markowitz to Santa Barbara from the Los Angeles area, Hollywood left town not long after, leaving Markowitz with Hollywood’s friend, Jesse Rugge, and others. The teen was not bound, and played video games and smoked marijuana with a group of people, all of which Hollywood used to argue Markowitz was free to go.

    A new kidnapping then occurred, Hollywood argued, when Markowitz was taken from a hotel room up to Lizard’s Mouth, where Hoyt killed Markowitz. Hollywood said he had sent Hoyt to Santa Barbara to bring Markowitz back to L.A., and that Hoyt decided to kill the teen on his own.

    After a nearly two-month trial, a jury didn’t believe Hollywood’s story, and convicted him of murder, though he was spared the death penalty. And the appellate court found the jury’s decision to be defensible. There are many ways to look at the evidence, asserted Attorney General David Glassman in his argument in front of the appellate court, and “virtually all of them are incriminating.”

    The tragic story drew the attention of national news media, and eventually became a major motion picture, Alpha Dog, which was released in theaters in 2006. Hollywood escaped capture for several years following the murder but was eventually tracked to Brazil, where he was arrested in 2005 and extradited back to the United States.

    The appellate court took only 18 days to reach its unanimous decision. The three-judge panel could’ve taken up to 90 days to make a ruling. Their opinion was not immediately available for review.

    Hoyt remains on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison, awaiting his appeal, while Hollywood is at Calipatria State Prison.

    Should he choose to move forward, Hollywood’s last remaining venue for appeal is the California Supreme Court. The state’s high court hears only a small number of cases a year, and it is unlikely the panel would take up the case on appeal.

    http://www.independent.com/news/2012...iction-upheld/

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    Victim's Mother Speaks Out After Governor Delays Inmate Release (Justin Timberlake's Character in Alpha Dog)

    It's a murder that made headlines for the past decade and inspired the Hollywood movie "Alpha Dog".

    Now, more than 13 years later, Governor Jerry Brown has delayed the release of inmate, Jesse Rugge, convicted in the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz in the Santa Barbara mountains.

    Nick's mother, Susan Markowitz says she was so grateful when she got the letter from Governor Brown because it showed he took the time to study her son's murder and make sure those responsible stayed behind bars.

    "It makes me want to cry," says Susan Markowitz. "This is the absolute worst that anyone could ever come up with. How can you follow through with a murder?"

    Susan Markowitz says for the past 13 years, something was missing. It wasn't just her murdered son, Nicholas.

    It was the conscience of an inmate, Jesse Rugge, who Susan says should live out his full sentence behind bars.

    "What's missing that people don't understand is the confession," says Markowitz. "The confession that I saw that the jurors didn't get to see. Had the jurors seen it, he would not be eligible for this parole."

    "Jesse Rugge is the one who knew Nick," says Markowitz. "He wrestled him under the Christmas tree a year before and how you can look someone in the eye knowing them and put duct tape around their mouth. This is things you can't undo. When you know a person, it makes you a very special evil."

    And Governor Jerry Brown agreed. In a letter to the parole board, Brown states: "Mr. Rugge's crime was cold and callous...Mr. Rugge walked Nicholas to his shallow grave in the Santa Barbara mountains and stood by while Nicholas was shot nine times. Until, Mr. Rugge can better describe his complicity in these horrific events, I am not prepared to release him."

    "There was no way that I was not going to be there to fight for justice for my son," says Markowitz. "He deserved to have justice. I feel justice has been served."

    As for the other suspects, Ryan Hoyt is on death row at San Quentin State Prison, William Skidmore was released in 2009, Graham Pressley was released in 2007 and Jesse James Hollywood is serving life without parole.

    The date of Rugge's next parole hearing has not yet been set but will take place in Sacramento.

    http://www.kcoy.com/story/23543803/g...murder-suspect
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    Rugge, Hoyt, and Hollywood should've all gotten DEATH and be hanging from a tree! What they did to an innocent 15 yr. Old kid is truly beyond sick!

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    Man Convicted of Kidnapping in ‘Alpha Dog’ Murder Case Granted Parole

    Susan Markowitz envisions the final fearful moments of her son’s life. At just 15-years-old, Nicholas Markowitz was kidnapped, shot nine times, and buried in a shallow grave.


    Nicholas Markowitz was 15 years old at the time of his death (Family photo)


    “To think that Jesse Rugge looked into his eyes and knew him… and put duct tape over his tears,” Markowitz told KTLA 5.

    Jesse Rugge, who helped carry out the kidnapping and execution, is scheduled to walk out of state prison in Chino Tuesday.

    A state board granted him parole, despite the objections of Markowitz’s mother and Governor Jerry brown.

    “It’s like killing Nick all over again… I think that he deserves to rest in peace,” Markowitz said.


    Jesse Rugge (Booking Photo)


    Rugge was portrayed by Justin Timberlake in the 2006 film “Alpha Dog.”


    Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog


    It’s based on the story of five friends who in August of 2000, looking to settle a debt, kidnapped drug dealer Ben Markowitz’s little brother.

    At first Nicholas was panicked, but the gang of friends gave him drugs and alcohol.

    They drove him to Santa Barbara, took him to parties, and even promised him he’d be let go.

    But then at the order of their leader, Jesse James Hollywood, the group took Nick to the Santa Ynez Mountains, shot him and buried him in a shallow grave.

    Hollywood who ordered the murder is serving a life sentence.

    Ryan Hoyt, who pulled the gun’s trigger, sits on death row.

    On Tuesday Jesse Rugge will join the rest of the group, free after time served.

    http://ktla.com/2013/10/19/man-convi...#ixzz2iHnk3Jy9
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Banned TheKindExecutioner's Avatar
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    The governor just delayed his release less than a month ago!

    Rugge should fry for what he did to a kid! MAJOR miscarriage of justice by releasing him!

  9. #9
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Hoyt's case has been fully briefed on direct appeal before the California Supreme Court since September 20, 2013.

    https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca....9TQCAgCg%3D%3D

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    On November 5, 2019, oral argument will be heard in Hoyt's direct appeal before the California Supreme Court.

    https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/...rs/SNOV519.PDF

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