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Thread: James Michael Fayed - California Death Row

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    James Michael Fayed - California Death Row



    Pamela Fayed, 44


    James Michael Fayed


    Prosecutor says defendant masterminded murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife

    James Fayed's desire for financial gain and a bitter divorce drove him to mastermind a murder-for-hire plot that led to the stabbing death of his wife, Pamela, almost three years ago, Los Angeles prosecutors said Wednesday in court.

    Fayed, 48, is charged with murder and conspiracy in the stabbing death of his wife Pamela, 44, of Camarillo. He has pleaded not guilty and denied special allegations that the murder was committed for financial gain and lying in wait.

    The special allegations allow Fayed to be tried for the death penalty.

    Defense attorneys, however, said it was not Fayed, but his "possessive" sister Mary Mercedes who ordered Pamela Fayed's death.

    "There was someone else who has a motive, an opportunity and intent to see Pamela die," said defense attorney Mark Werksman. "(Mary) thought Pam was a bad wife, businesswoman and a bad mother.

    "I will have the opportunity to come back before you ... and based on evidence, will show that the only right and just verdict in this case is to find Mr. Fayed not guilty."

    Opening statements began on Wednesday for the trial, which is being tried at Los Angeles Superior Court under Judge Kathleen Kennedy. Prosecutors in Los Angeles County accuse Fayed of paying a former employee, Jose Luis Moya, 50, about $25,000 to arrange his wife's slaying.

    In his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon said Moya's associates, Gabriel Marquez, 46, and Steven Vicente Simmons, 22, both of Ventura, were also involved in executing Pamela's murder.

    "In the next few days, you will hear a story — a love story where boy meets gold," Harman said. "It's that love of gold that caused this man to have his wife murdered for financial gain."

    The Fayeds were embroiled in a bitter divorce in which each accused the other of embezzling money from their digital money transmitting business, which was based in Camarillo. The Fayeds have a daughter, who is now 8 years old. Pamela had another daughter, 21-year old Desiree Goudie, from a previous relationship.

    The couple co-owned several interrelated businesses dealing with bullion wholesaling, the online gold trading and money transfer business, and reserve services.

    Harmon said Pamela was leaving a meeting with her attorney, Fayed and his attorney on July 28, 2008, when she was ambushed by Simmons and stabbed repeatedly on the third floor of the Watt Tower parking garage.

    Harmon said Fayed masterminded the plan to kill his wife and offered Moya $25,000 to execute the plan.

    During his opening statement, Harmon played video surveillance that showed Pamela entering the parking structure. Minutes later, a red SUV driven by Moya pulled into the garage, with Marquez and Simmons inside it.

    Harmon said the sport utility vehicle was rented with a credit card used under Fayed's business.

    Harman said Marquez served as lookout while Simmons stabbed Pamela multiple times, leaving her to bleed to death.

    "There is evidence that spectators heard she screamed for her life" Harman said. "People in the street were able to see a man grabbing her."

    Harmon also played audio recordings obtained while Fayed was in jail. Federal investigators arrested Fayed on Aug. 1, 2008, on an accusation of operating his digital money transmitting business without a license. The U.S. District Court case was later dismissed not long after Fayed and Moya were arrested in connection to Pamela's killing.

    It was while in jail that Fayed confided in a fellow prisoner, Shawn Smith, about planning the murder, Harmon said. On the audio recordings, Fayed said he wanted to kill Pamela himself, "but he knew he wouldn't be able to get away," Harmon said.

    It was during that recorded conversation that Fayed solicited Smith to hire professional hit men to kill Moya, Marquez and Simmons, Harmon said.

    "(Fayed) said he couldn't sit the rest of my life waiting for one of them to fess up," Harmon said.

    Werksman said Smith "sunk his claws into Fayed" and that his client was "confused."

    "His life was upside-down and he was in a tiny cell with a scumbag and his wife has been murdered," Werksman said. "He tried to affect the aggressiveness and the macho attitude that his cellmate projected onto him."

    Werksman said it was Fayed's sister, Mary Mercedes, who had a motive to orchestrate Pamela's killing and said it was Mercedes who "had a relationship with Moya," who called Mercedes shortly after Pamela's lifeless body was found in the garage.

    Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson, who also is trying the case for the prosecution, would not comment on Werksman's assertion that it was Mary Mercedes who orchestrated the killing.

    Prosecutors said Pamela wanted to cooperate with the federal investigation against her estranged husband. She also stood to gain $1 million from the divorce.

    Prosecutors called her daughter, Desiree Goudie, who testified that her mother married Fayed when she was about 6 years old.

    Goudie, who also worked for the family's company, said she and her mother were 'thrown out" of the company shortly after Fayed filed for divorce in Oct. 2007.

    Goudie wiped tears from her eyes as Jackson showed pictures of Goudie with her mother and younger sister.

    "She was my mom she was my best friend," Goudie said.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/...#ixzz1LTW6GjRR

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    Fayed murder-for-hire trial continues with court skirmish about wife's testimony

    A Los Angeles Superior Court judge told prosecutors Thursday they did not have enough evidence to prove whether defendant James Fayed knew of his estranged wife's intention to serve as a witness in a federal-court case against him.

    Fayed, 48, is charged with murder and conspiracy in the stabbing death of his wife Pamela, 44, of Camarillo. He has pleaded not guilty and denied special allegations that the murder was committed for financial gain and lying in wait. The special allegations also allow James Fayed to be tried for the death penalty.

    Thursday was the second day for the trial, which is being tried at Los Angeles Superior Court under Judge Kathleen Kennedy.

    "To me, it is only relevant if you can link the knowledge of that to the defendant," Kennedy told prosecutors. "It will only be relevant if you can demonstrate that the defendant knew what she was going to do."

    Prosecutors said James Fayed was the mastermind of a murder-for-hire scheme that led to the stabbing death of Pamela Fayed on July 28, 2008. Prosecutors said James Fayed paid his employee and confidante Jose Luis Moya, 50, about $25,000 to kill his estranged wife.

    Moya allegedly enlisted his associates Gabriel Marquez, 46, and Steven Vicente Simmons, 22, to carry out the murder.

    Prosecutors said Pamela Fayed was leaving a meeting with her attorney Jean Nelson when she was ambushed by Simmons, who stabbed her multiple times at the third floor of the Watt Tower parking garage in Century City.

    During a break on Thursday and before jurors were inside the courtroom, prosecutors told Kennedy they planned to call several of Pamela Fayed's friends who knew about the Camarillo woman's plans to testify against James Fayed.

    The Fayeds were embroiled in a bitter divorce in which each accused the other of embezzling money from their digital money transmitting business that was based in Camarillo.

    Federal agents arrested James Fayed on Aug. 1, 2008, for allegedly operating his digital transmitting business without a license. Prosecutors said Pamela Fayed wanted to buy the license, but James Fayed disagreed.

    Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson questioned Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aveis about a grand jury indictment against James Fayed and his company. Although that indictment was sealed, prosecutors said Pamela Fayed became aware of possible litigation when Aveis issued a subpoena to account for money flowing in and out of the Fayeds' business.

    Aveis said Pamela Fayed's attorney, David Willingham, contacted him.

    "He said, 'Pamela wants to come in,' " Aveis said. "She wanted to cooperate against the criminal investigation against her husband and others."

    Pamela Fayed never made it to Aveis' office and was killed a few weeks later. The indictment was not unsealed until James Fayed was arrested on an allegation of operating his business without a license.

    Willingham, who also took the stand, said he called Aveis to find out whether his client would be indicted. Willingham said "it was pretty clear that she wanted to be a witness."

    Pamela Fayed, however, did not sign any agreements with federal prosecutors because it would have been premature to agree to cooperate with the investigation and serve as a witness against her husband without knowing the contents of the indictment, Willingham said.

    James Fayed's attorney Mark Werksman said James Fayed, Pamela Fayed and their individual attorneys agreed to a joint defense pending a federal investigation.

    Werksman said prosecutors failed to show whether Pamela Fayed intended to testify against James Fayed, and bringing her "sisterhood of friends" to testify was "fluff" and would be "meaningless."

    "This isn't a case of what she intended and her state of mind," Werksman said. "It's Mr. Fayed's state of mind."

    Kennedy told prosecutors calling various witnesses to testify they heard Pamela Fayed planned to testify against her husband still missed an important link.

    "She did not cooperate, she never testified and gave no statements to the federal government," Kennedy said. "You want the jury to infer if she told people that somehow Fayed got wind of that and therefore, 'did her in.' Where the link is falling is that whether Mr. Fayed knew these statements."

    Prosecutors chose not to call some of their planned witnesses on Thursday, but did call Pamela Fayed's longtime friend Carol Mede to the stand. Mede testified Pamela Fayed intended to obtain a money transfer license.

    Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon said the defense claim that James Fayed's sister Mary Mercedes was the mastermind behind the killing of her sister-in-law is "preposterous."

    "We recorded a conversation and you will hear Mary tell people that Jim knew Pam would testify against him," Harmon said. "It is another link proving that Jim Fayed knew" his wife had the intent to testify in court.

    Harmon, however, said he did not intend to call Mercedes in court.

    Mercedes did appear in court on April 28 when she invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify in court, according to court records. The court, however, ordered Mercedes to remain on call for both sides until the conclusion on the trial.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/...#ixzz1LaV7oEkM

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    Witness in Pamela Fayed murder case watched her fall, die after stabbing

    It wasn't uncommon for Edwin Rivera to wait out rush hour traffic after work by relaxing in his car and shutting his eyes for a few minutes.

    On July 28, 2008, Rivera did just that, and sat in his Honda parked on the third floor of the Watt Tower parking garage in Century City, hoping to get some rest before his 56-mile commute back to his home in Palmdale.

    Not long after he shut his eyes, Rivera said, he heard a bloodcurdling scream from a woman. He jumped out of his car and saw a woman standing in the street below the parking garage screaming and pointing at his direction. Rivera said he then saw a man in a hooded sweatshirt about 28 feet away jump into a red SUV that sped out the parking lot.

    When Rivera ran across the parking lot, he saw a woman covered in so much blood that the only thing he saw on her face were her eyes.

    "She was walking toward me ... she said, 'Please help me. Don't let me die,' " Rivera said. "The noise she was making was awful. I will never forget it. She did that four times and she stretched her arms and legs and I could see her taking her last breath. She turned her head and that's when I saw the cut. She had no throat ... she had no flesh. I went numb and I lost it."

    Prosecutors said Pamela Fayed, 44, suffered an agonizing death at the hands of Steven Vicente Simmons, 22, who prosecutors said is one of three men who was commissioned to carry out the murder of the Camarillo woman by her estranged husband, James Fayed.

    James Fayed, 48, is charged with murder and conspiracy in the stabbing death of his wife. He has pleaded not guilty and denied the special allegations that the murder was committed for financial gain and lying in wait. The special allegations allow for the death penalty.

    Prosecutors in Los Angeles County said James Fayed paid his employee Jose Luis Moya, 50, about $25,000 to arrange Pamela Fayed's murder. Prosecutors said Moya recruited Gabriel Marquez, 46, of Ventura, who then commissioned Simmons to carry out the fatal blows.

    The couple owned a lucrative online gold trading company called Goldfinger Inc., based in Camarillo, and other interrelated businesses dealing with bullion wholesaling and money transfers.

    Friday was the third day of James Fayed's trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon played video obtained from building and parking lot surveillance cameras that showed Pamela Fayed returning to her car, which was parked on the third floor.

    She had just left a meeting with her attorney, James Fayed and his attorney when she was ambushed and stabbed repeatedly by Simmons, prosecutors said. The couple was scheduled to appear in divorce court the next day.

    Prosecutors said Pamela Fayed stood to gain $1 million in the divorce. Prosecutors also said Pamela Fayed told her friends that she intended to testify in federal court against James Fayed, who was arrested a few days after her death.

    Federal agents arrested James Fayed in Aug. 1, 2008 on an accusation of operating his business without a license. The U.S. District Court case was dismissed not long after James Fayed and Moya were arrested in connection with Pamela Fayed's killing.

    During cross-examination on Friday, James Fayed's attorney, Mark Werksman, asked Rivera if he saw the driver of the vehicle. Rivera said he did not. Rivera said he did not see the stabbing, but saw a man who "flew into" an SUV, which then took off from the scene.

    Dr. Stephen Scholtz, deputy medical examiner and pathologist for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, testified that Pamela Fayed was conscious for at least two to three minutes before she succumbed to her fatal wound to the right side of her lower neck. She also suffered other cuts and stab wounds to her jaw, chest, arms, fingers and wrist, Scholtz said.

    Prosecutors also called Los Angeles Police Department Detective Eric Spear, who responded to the crime scene in Century City. Spear said he used information obtained from the surveillance video to track down the vehicle that was used.

    Upon further investigation, the red vehicle was tracked as registered to an Avis Rent A Car in Camarillo. The rental fees was paid using James Fayed's business credit card, Spear said.

    Spear also showed the jury the clothes Pamela Fayed wore that day. Her family members, who were in the audience, sobbed quietly as Spear held up her white shirt and pants that were caked with dry blood.

    During Werksman's cross-examination, Spear said someone else had initially rented the car months ago, not James Fayed. Werksman said James Fayed's nephew actually used the rental car weeks before Pamela Fayed's murder.

    In his opening statement earlier this week, Werksman said James Fayed's sister, Mary Mercedes, was the mastermind behind Pamela Fayed's killing, not his client.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/...#ixzz1LgfXjz6s

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    Employee testifies about events on day of slaying at Century City garage

    Miguel Sanchez was eating dinner at BJ's Restaurant in Oxnard with a friend on July 28, 2008, when he saw a familiar face on the big-screen television.

    Although the sound was on mute, Sanchez said he knew something was wrong when the evening news flashed the picture of his employer, Pamela Fayed, and what looked like live shots from a crime scene.

    "First I saw something on the screen. I saw her face," he said "There was yellow tape and I assumed there was a murder."

    Prosecutors allege Pamela Fayed, 44, died earlier that night after Steven Vicente Simmons, 22, slashed the Camarillo woman's throat and stabbed her multiple times as she walked to her car inside the third floor of a parking garage at the Watt Tower in Century City.

    Her husband, James Fayed, 48, is being tried in the Los Angeles Superior Court on allegations of murder and conspiracy. Los Angeles prosecutors say James Fayed paid his employee Jose Luis Moya, 50, about $25,000 to arrange Pamela Fayed's murder. Moya commissioned Gabriel Marquez, 46, and Simmons, 22, both of Ventura, to help carry out the murder, prosecutors said.

    James Fayed has pleaded not guilty and denied special allegations that the murder was committed for financial gain and lying in wait. He faces the possibility of the death penalty because of the special allegation.

    On Monday, Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon questioned Sanchez about events that took place at the Fayeds' Moorpark estate, called Happy Camp, a few hours after Pamela Fayed was slain.

    Sanchez, who worked as a ranch hand at the sprawling estate, said he got a call from James Fayed's sister, Mary Mercedes, about 10 or 11 p.m. She asked him to return to the ranch so she could get inside the main house, he said.

    Sanchez said Moya, who lived in a smaller home on the ranch property, usually opened the gates into the property.

    "Joey (Moya) normally spent the night there," Sanchez said. "This day, he wasn't there."

    During cross-examination by James Fayed's attorney Mark Werksman, Sanchez said Mercedes also lived at the Happy Camp property. James Fayed moved into the Moorpark property while he and Pamela Fayed were going through a divorce.

    On the day Pamela Fayed was murdered, Sanchez said he saw James Fayed leave the Happy Camp property in a limousine about 10 or 11 a.m.

    One or two days later, Sanchez said he accompanied Moya to a Moorpark carwash where Moya dropped off a red Suzuki sport utility vehicle. The SUV was a rental that was initially being used by Mercedes' son, Robert Tokarcik.

    Prosecutors said Moya was behind the wheel of that same vehicle on July 28, 2008, and was accompanied by Marquez and Simmons. Last week, prosecutors played surveillance tape that showed the SUV entering the Watt Tower parking garage shortly after Pamela Fayed parked her car there.

    Pamela Fayed had just left a meeting with her attorney, James Fayed and his attorney when she was ambushed and stabbed repeatedly by Simmons, prosecutors said. The Fayeds were scheduled to appear in divorce court the next day.

    The couple owned a lucrative online gold trading company called Goldfinger Inc., based in Camarillo, and interrelated businesses dealing with bullion and money transfers.

    Prosecutors on Monday also called FBI Special Agent Steven Eidson to the stand. He testified law enforcement officials recovered about $6.3 million in precious metals at James Fayed's three properties. Eidson showed jurors more than $1 million worth of gold bars and coins that were seized by Los Angeles Police Department officials.

    Federal agents arrested James Fayed on Aug. 1, 2008, accusing him of operating his business without a license. The U.S. District Court case was dismissed after he and Moya were arrested in connection with Pamela Fayed's killing.

    Before the jury entered the courtroom Monday, Judge Kathleen Kennedy said the court received a message from someone who claimed to be juror. The person alleged other jurors were talking about the case outside of the courtroom on Friday.

    Kennedy asked the jurors and alternates who left the message, but no one admitted to making the anonymous call.

    Before the court was dismissed early Monday because of a ruptured pipe in the building, Kennedy told jurors and alternates not to discuss the case until they are ready for deliberation.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/...#ixzz1LwtOmgpW

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    Recording of alleged statements to cellmate played during Fayed murder trial

    Almost two months after his wife's slaying, Camarillo businessman James Fayed sat in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center and told cellmate Shawn Smith he was "a little skittish," according to a recording, allegedly of Fayed, that was played during his trial Thursday.

    In the recording, a man alleged to be Fayed told Smith he had paid his employee Jose Luis Moya $25,000 to kill his estranged wife, Pamela.

    Pamela Fayed, the voice said, was a good liar who was destroying not only the life of their then-8-year-old daughter, but also the lucrative multimillion dollar online gold trading company they owned in Camarillo. The voice said Moya had tried to kill Pamela Fayed several times before, but failed.

    "Four times, I pretty much had everything. All they had to do was just do it, 'cause I couldn't," the voice on the recording said.

    Pamela Fayed, 44, of Camarillo was stabbed to death on July 28, 2008, as she walked to her car parked on the third floor of a parking garage at the Watt Tower in Century City. The voice in the recording told Smith law enforcement officials did not have enough evidence to tie him directly to Pamela Fayed's murder — except for Moya.

    Los Angeles prosecutors on Thursday said James Fayed not only commissioned others to kill his wife almost three years ago, but also plotted with Smith on Sept. 10, 2008, to hire a professional hit man to kill Moya.

    "I want this cleanup to happen, man," the voice told Smith. "But you have to understand, I'm a little nervous."

    James Fayed, 48, sat quietly as prosecutors played the three-hour tape recording on Thursday before Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy and jurors. James Fayed has pleaded not guilty to the death and denied special allegations that the murder was committed for financial gain and lying in wait. The special allegations also allow James Fayed to be tried for the death penalty.

    Los Angeles Police Department Detective Salaam Abdul-Rahman said Smith agreed to wear a hidden microphone and was able to tape James Fayed soliciting Smith to hire someone else to kill his former employee, Moya.

    Moya, 50, allegedly enlisted his associates Gabriel Marquez, 46, and Steven Vicente Simmons, 22, to carry out the murder.

    During the taped conversation, the voice that was alleged to be James Fayed discussed with Smith the contents of a letter James Fayed was allegedly writing to a hit man Smith had fabricated. James Fayed also allegedly drew a map to his ranch in Moorpark where Moya was staying at a smaller house on the sprawling property, according to the recording. The voice told Smith not to send the hit man to the main house where his young daughter and his sister Mary Mercedes were staying.

    The voice said he did not know who else was involved in the plot to kill Pamela Fayed, but said he couldn't "sit here for the rest of my life and worry about whether one of them is gonna ... finally decide to fess up."

    On the tape, the voice said Pamela Fayed "ran her mouth too much," was out of control, was taking drugs and fabricated things in her mind. He said his estranged wife also tried to poison him.

    "She went out and made all these stupid accusations against me to try to make me look bad," the voice said.

    Federal agents arrested James Fayed on Aug. 1, 2008, accusing him of operating his business without a license. The U.S. District Court case was dismissed after he and Moya were arrested in connection with Pamela Fayed's killing.

    Prosecutors said James Fayed knew about Pamela Fayed's intentions to go to federal authorities. Defense attorneys said James Fayed had had no knowledge of any dealings Pamela Fayed might have had with authorities.

    Defense attorney Mark Werksman said Smith was a repeat felon with DUI and drug charges, and was released five weeks after he cooperated with investigators to secretly tape James Fayed.

    Abdul-Rahman said he did not counsel Smith what to say to James Fayed. Officials never recovered the map and the letter James Fayed allegedly constructed, however, Abdul-Rahman testified.

    After prosecutors rested their case, Werksman called James Fayed's older sister, Patricia Taboga, to the stand

    Taboga said she and her sister Mary Mercedes had an "extremely unusual" phone conversation. On May 2008, Mercedes was living at the Moorpark ranch with James Fayed and her young niece while James Fayed was going through a bitter divorce with Pamela Fayed.

    Taboga said Mercedes asked her if her husband would kill Pamela Fayed for $200,000. Taboga said she was shocked and devastated, especially when Mercedes knew Taboga's husband was a police officer in Pennsylvania where they lived.

    "I told her she was out of her mind and she was over the top getting involved (with Pamela Fayed and James') business," Taboga said. "I told her she was insane and suggested she leave California and go back to Maryland and she was exacerbating things."

    Taboga said she decided to come forward recently about her sister's solicitation after Werksman's staff member asked if she had anything to add to the case.

    On cross examination, Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon questioned Taboga about her intention to testify on her brother's behalf almost three years after Pamela Fayed's murder and only after she was notified that her brother would be facing the death penalty.

    Taboga said she never went to authorities because she believed her sister, who said she would not act on her proposition.

    "I didn't feel (Pamela Fayed) was in mortal danger because my sister told me she wasn't going to do anything," Taboga said. "I believed her.

    "It's been bothering me all of this time. No one wants to believe you have a family member capable of murder."

    James Fayed chose not to testify on his behalf Thursday.

    Before court procedures began on Thursday, Werksman said he received an anonymous email from someone who claimed to be a juror who said others continued to discuss the case outside of court. Kennedy also said she received an anonymous phone message from someone who also claimed to be a juror on the case.

    Before jurors were dismissed for the day, Kennedy strongly admonished jurors and alternates and told them not to discuss the case outside the courtroom. Kennedy had previously dismissed a juror and an alternate on Wednesday.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/...#ixzz1MEiwemln

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    Closing arguments given in Fayed trial

    Prosecutors said Camarillo businessman James Fayed made a life-defining choice that destroyed his family when he orchestrated the murder of his wife, Pamela, almost three years ago.

    Driven by greed and fear of losing his multimillion-dollar online gold trading company, prosecutors said the 48-year old businessman not only commissioned others to murder Pamela Fayed, but also planned to "tie up loose ends" by placing a hit on those who allegedly killed his estranged wife.

    "James Fayed made this choice very clearly," Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson told jurors Monday. "What he decided to do was hire a hit man to stalk and attack and pray on his wife, and he ultimately paid this person to slit her throat and in so choosing, he left a family sisterless ... and left two beautiful daughters motherless.

    "His was one of the greatest betrayal to commit — a betrayal of love, parenthood ... trust. Much more than that, it was a betrayal in the fabric of humanity."

    Jurors listened to prosecutors and defense attorneys present their final arguments Monday at the Los Angeles Superior Court where James Fayed is on trial facing murder and conspiracy charges in the stabbing death of his wife. He has pleaded not guilty and denied the special allegations that the murder was committed for financial gain and lying in wait. The special allegations allow for the death penalty.

    In his closing argument, defense attorney Mark Werksman said James Fayed never confessed to his wife's murder that took place after she walked to her car on the third floor at the Watt Tower parking garage in Century City on July 28, 2008.

    It was another family member, Fayed's sister Mary Mercedes, who had the motive and opportunity to commission others to kill 44-year old Pamela Fayed, Werksman said.

    "The prosecutors represent the state, and their objective was to seek a conviction," Werksman said. "They are the hammer, and every man is a nail. They tried to lay out a compelling case against my client, but if you peel back a layer or two, you will see things are not as they seem. They presented some crème to you that turned out to be skim milk."

    Prosecutors said James Fayed paid his employee Jose Luis Moya, 50, about $25,000 to arrange Pamela Fayed's murder. Prosecutors said Moya recruited Gabriel Marquez, 46, of Ventura, who then commissioned 22-year old Steven Vicente Simmons, who stabbed and slashed Pamela 13 times.

    The couple owned a lucrative online gold trading company called Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Inc., based in Camarillo, and other interrelated businesses dealing with bullion wholesaling and money transfers.

    Jackson said the murder was a "textbook ambush" that was carried out for James Fayed's financial gain. He said James Fayed stood to lose half of their marital assets.

    Federal agents arrested James Fayed in Aug. 1, 2008, on an accusation of operating his business without a license. The U.S. District Court case was dismissed not long after James Fayed and Moya were arrested in connection with Pamela Fayed's killing.

    Prosecutors said James Fayed became furious when Pamela Fayed decided to take out about $800,000 to buy a license for their business. They said he also knew of his wife's intentions to cooperate with a federal investigation against her husband.

    "Pamela wasn't happy and decided to do something on her own that created the motive — his motive to kill her," Jackson said.

    Werksman said James Fayed never knew about the federal investigation of his business. Werksman said prosecutors provided a slanted presentation, including placing Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aveis on the stand to testify about James Fayed's federal indictment.

    "Mark Aveis sat there ... and tried to lead you with the impression ... that the reason that (Pamela Fayed) didn't cooperate was because she was murdered," Werksman said. "You can't be swayed by that type of evidence."

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys also played snippets of a three-hour conversation between James Fayed and his former cellmate at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center, convicted felon Shawn Smith.

    Prosecutors said Smith wore a hidden microphone on Sept. 10, 2008, and was able to tape James Fayed soliciting Smith to hire someone else to kill Moya. In the recording, a man alleged to be Fayed told Smith he had paid Moya to kill Pamela Fayed.

    Werksman said Fayed actually denied any knowledge of the conspiracy to murder Pamela Fayed.

    "The tape is a perversion," Werksman said. "This man is no good. Shawn Smith leads and cons and directs James Fayed ... and (Fayed) wasn't necessarily buying it.

    "He was confused, lost ... and here comes Shawn Smith to the rescue. Can you imagine sitting in an 8- by 12-foot cell, in that disgusting environment, and (Smith) tried to lay out a confession ... and (James Fayed's) only response was, 'Huh?' "

    Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon said Werksman's portrayal of James Fayed as a man who fed off of Smith's "machismo" was inaccurate.

    Harmon said Fayed even drew a map to his sprawling 200-acre estate in Moorpark so the fictional hit man would know where Moya lived, which was in a small house on the property.

    "This isn't machismo ... this is a purpose-driven killer," Harmon said of James Fayed.

    Jackson also provided the chronology of cellphone calls and text messages between James Fayed and Moya on the day of Pamela Fayed's murder. Werksman said although phone records showed correspondences between the two men, investigators who retrieved Fayed's phone never found any incriminating messages on the cell phone.

    In the end of his closing statement, Jackson asked jurors to sit in silence for one minute and imagine the three to four minutes of excruciating pain Pamela Fayed felt as she sat on the cold, dirty parking garage and took her last breath.

    Jackson then played a snippet of the taped conversation between Smith and James Fayed, who allegedly said he would commit the crime again if given the chance.

    "And with that, James Fayed had his defining moment ... and showed who he really is," Jackson said.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/...#ixzz1MbLWOr3V

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    Husband guilty of orchestrating wife's stabbing death in Century City parking garage

    A Ventura County businessman was found guilty Thursday of orchestrating the fatal stabbing of his estranged wife in 2008 in a Century City parking garage, a crime prosecutors say was designed to fend off a messy and potentially expensive divorce.

    James Fayed was accused of hiring a worker from his Moorpark ranch to pull off the crime with the help of two recruited gang members.

    Pamela Fayed was stabbed 13 times by a hooded assailant and her body was tossed into a rented SUV and driven from the scene, prosecutors said.

    Fayed was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He potentially faces the death penalty. The trio of hired hands who allegedly took part in the murder plot face separate trials.

    The key prosecution evidence in the 2008 crime was a taped confession Fayed allegedly made to a jailhouse informant. Tapes of the alleged confession where played to jurors and included Fayed referring to his wife as a “money grubbing” person who would not listen to reason.

    Authorities said Fayed feared his estranged wife would cooperate with a federal investigation into their international gold trading business, Goldfinger Inc., which investigators believed was a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...ged-wife-.html

  8. #8
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Jurors recommend death in 2008 murder-for-hire

    Jurors on Tuesday recommended the death penalty for James Fayed, who was convicted in the murder-for-hire of his estranged wife in a Century City parking garage in 2008.

    Fayed, 48, was found guilty on May 19 of first-degree murder and conspiracy for plotting to kill Pamela Fayed.

    One of the jurors said the jury at first was not unanimous in their decision, but after they deliberated a little bit longer, they were all in agreement that Fayed should be sentenced to death.

    The couple's gold-trading business was the subject of a federal probe, and the two were involved in a bitter divorce at the time.

    Prosecutors say James Fayed hired three men to kill Pamela Fayed, fearing she would cooperate with investigators and get half of the couple's marital assets in a divorce. They had a net worth of about $12 million.

    Prosecutors also said James Fayed paid a confidante $50,000 to help execute the plan.

    Pamela Fayed was attacked from behind and stabbed 13 times as she approached her car in a parking garage at Watt Tower on July 28, 2008.

    The three men charged in the killing are awaiting trial separately. The alleged killer, Steven Vicente Simmons, 22; the alleged getaway driver, Jose Luis Moya, 51; and the alleged lookout, Gabriel Jay Marquez, 46, each face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

    http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...les&id=8162499

  9. #9
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    Husband convicted in wife's murder-for-hire to be sentenced

    A gold trader convicted of masterminding the 2008 murder of his estranged wife in Century City is set to be sentenced on Thursday.

    Jurors recommended the death penalty for 48-year-old James Fayed May 19 when he was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy for plotting to kill Pamela Fayed nearly three years ago.

    Fayed paid one of his employees and three gang members $25,000 to kill his wife. The two were going through a bitter divorce at the time, and he feared his wife would cooperate with a federal investigation into their international gold trading business and get half of the couple's marital assets. They had a net worth of about $12 million.

    Pamela Fayed, 45, was fatally stabbed 13 times in a Century City parking lot in July 2008. While in jail as a prime suspect in his wife's killing, James Fayed confessed his guilt to his cellmate and also divulged a plot to kill his accomplices to clean up the mess.

    The cellmate, who was cooperating with authorities, recorded the entire conversation, which was replayed at Fayed's trial. The recording was a key piece of evidence that led to Fayed's conviction.

    The three men charged in the killing are awaiting trial separately. The alleged killer, Steven Vicente Simmons, 22; the alleged getaway driver, Jose Luis Moya, 51; and the alleged lookout, Gabriel Jay Marquez, 46, each face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

    http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...les&id=8363981

  10. #10
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    Sentencing in death penalty case of James Fayed postponed to November

    Sentencing in the death penalty case of former Camarillo businessman James Fayed was postponed today until November after defense attorneys filed a motion for a new trial.

    After a monthlong trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, a jury in May recommended the death penalty for 48-year old Fayed, but a judge has the final say. The same jury also found Fayed guilty of masterminding the murder-for-hire plot against his estranged wife Pamela, 44.

    Fayed, dressed in a bright orange Los Angeles County jailhouse jumpsuit, appeared before Judge Kathleen A. Kennedy this morning and said “yes” when asked if he agreed to the postponement of his sentencing.

    In an eight-page document filed Sept. 12, defense attorney Steve Meister said Fayed had no prior criminal record and that he was not the killer.

    “Prior to the Fayeds’ bitter divorce, the family had been happy, and Jim Fayed was by the account of none other than (stepdaughter) Desiree Goudie a good father and good family man,” Meister said in the document. “The jury heard from longtime friends and colleagues of Mr. Fayed, and they would be deeply hurt by Mr. Fayed’s death ... that Mr. Fayed’s life was worth sparing and that they could not connect the man they knew with the man who’d been convicted of murder.”

    The jury also found Fayed guilty of committing the murder for financial gain, lying in wait, and conspiracy to commit murder and other overt acts.

    The special allegation of lying in wait triggered the death penalty possibility.

    Pamela Fayed was stabbed 13 times and slashed to death as she walked to her car on the third floor of a parking garage at the Watt Tower in Century City on July 28, 2008.

    Prosecutors said her husband paid employee Jose Luis Moya, 50, about $25,000 to plan the assault. Moya hired Gabriel Marquez, 46, of Ventura, who in turn commissioned Steven Vicente Simmons, 22, to fatally stab her, prosecutors alleged.

    Deputy District Attorneys Alan Jackson and Eric Harmon have until Oct. 28 to respond to the defense motion for a new trial and motion to modify the jury’s death penalty recommendation.

    Defense attorneys Meister and Mark Werksman have until Nov. 9 to respond to prosecutors. Both sides are scheduled to appear back in Kennedy’s courtroom on Nov. 17.

    The Fayeds were going through a bitter divorce in which Pamela stood to gain about $1 million. The couple co-owned Goldfinger Coin & Bullion Inc., based in Camarillo, and related businesses involved in online gold trading and money transfers.

    Prosecutors said the Fayeds’ net worth was about $12 million. The couple owned a home in Camarillo and a sprawling 200-acre estate in Moorpark.

    http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/...#ixzz1YiIFNZb7

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