Death Penalty for Man Who Ordered Wife's Murder
Los Angeles - A man who co-owned a gold trading company was sentenced to death today for masterminding his estranged wife's murder in a Century City parking garage just over three years ago during an acrimonious divorce battle.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy rejected a defense motion for a new trial for James M. Fayed, 48, along with an automatic motion to reduce the jury's recommendation of a death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jurors deliberated just over three days before recommending on May 31 that Fayed be executed for the fatal ambush of Pamela Fayed, who was stabbed 13 times as she approached her SUV in a parking garage at Watt Tower in Century City on July 28, 2008.
The same jury earlier convicted Fayed of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and found true the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder while lying in wait.
Kennedy called the slaying a "cold-blooded, vicious and brutal murder."
She noted that Fayed was nearby as his wife was being "brutally and brazenly" murdered, and that others reacted to the victim's "blood-curdling screams."
"That is one cold, calculated human being, Mr. James Fayed -- doesn't feel anything," the judge said.
Kennedy added that surveillance video showed Fayed outside the parking garage "totally immune to the screams of his wife, the mother of his child."
"He did nothing to warn her, to protect her, to call off the dogs, so to speak," the judge said.Three other men charged in Pamela Fayed's killing are awaiting trial separately.
The alleged killer, Steven Vicente Simmons, 23; 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. Moya worked as a ranch hand for Fayed at his Ventura County ranch.
The Fayeds were in the midst of a bitter divorce. The killing occurred just after the two met with their criminal attorneys as a result of a federal investigation into the couple's gold-trading business.
Based on a taped confession to a jailhouse informant, prosecutors contended that Fayed contracted the hit on his estranged wife because he believed the mother of two would cooperate with federal investigators and because she could have ended up with half of the couple's marital assets in a divorce.
Prosecutors also alleged that Fayed planned to arrange more killings from behind bars in hopes of eliminating the people who committed the crime for him.
The judge said that the evidence and facts in the case were "gruesome and horrible," and that she was "convinced that the charges have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt."
One of Fayed's attorneys, Mark Werksman, said his client has maintained his innocence throughout the case and that he believed Fayed had been "denied a fair trial." He unsuccessfully asked the judge to spare Fayed's life, saying a man who once had dozens of employees and "millions of dollars in gold reserves" is now indigent and has lived through "the most oppressive incarceration that one can endure" with 23 and a half hours a day in lockdown.
The judge responded, "That's a hell of his own making and there are consequences for actions."
Another defense attorney, Steve Meister, told the judge that Fayed would be "last in line" to be executed after others including "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, who was sentenced to death in 1989. He said it wouldn't do any good for Pamela Fayed's family to have to wait through decades of appeals.
While Meister noted that his client was "not the actual killer," the judge said there was "nothing mitigating about the fact the defendant hired others to do his dirty work."
"... His greed was seemingly the controlling factor in why and how this murder was carried out," Kennedy said.
The victim's sister-in-law, Renee Goudie, said Fayed has left a difficult road for his 12-year-old daughter, whom she is raising with Pamela Fayed's older brother, Scott. She told the judge that she has been confronted by other children asking if the girl's mother is dead and if her father is in jail when she picks up the girl, Jeanette, at school.
Scott Goudie told the judge that the family will spend the rest of their lives "picking up the pieces" and trying to move on.
Outside court, he said the death sentence brings "partial closure to this situation."
"There are still three more defendants we have to go through (trial)," Scott Goudie said, telling reporters that he thinks the sentence was "fair" for a man who "orchestrated the murder of another human being."
Fayed's conviction and death sentence will be automatically appealed to the California Supreme Court.
"We're going to continue to press the issues that we think are critical in Mr. Fayed's case. We're going to seek a just outcome which in this case would be for a new trial," Werksman told reporters outside court.
He noted that his client was "resigned to this outcome today" and has known for months that it was likely he would be sentenced to death.
"He's a little bit shocked, though, and he's facing an uncertain future on death row, and he's upset and depressed, as I think you'd expect anyone to be under these circumstances," the defense attorney said. "Mr. Fayed maintains that he had not intended to or attempted to kill his wife."
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/loca...#ixzz1e3hBJNDZ
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