Jury Selection Begins in Murder-Carjacking Case

More than a year after 65-year-old Mildred Wilson was fatally shot in the parking lot of a Ventura shopping center, her alleged killer appeared Monday before a panel of prospective jurors.

Alan Brett Holland, a 30-year-old Hollywood drifter, faces a possible death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder, carjacking and robbery in the July 20, 1996, slaying of Wilson.

The case is the first in Ventura County to be prosecuted using a new law that makes a killing committed during the commission of a carjacking punishable by death.

His capital trial is one of two scheduled to begin this week in Ventura County Superior Court, with jury selection set to start Wednesday in the case of Michael Raymond Johnson, accused of killing a police officer.

A 50-year-old Ventura resident, Johnson also faces a possible death sentence if convicted of shooting Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Aguirre Jr. during a domestic disturbance call July 17, 1996.

Both trials are expected to span the next two months, breaking for two or three weeks over the holidays.

Holland and Johnson are among a handful of Ventura County defendants facing possible execution.

The trial of suspected killer Michael Dally is scheduled to begin later this month, following on the heels of his lover’s recent first-degree murder conviction for killing Dally’s wife, Sherri.

A jury decided last week that Diana Haun should spend the rest of her life in prison instead of face execution for stabbing the homemaker to death last year.

Kenneth McKinzie, accused of killing an Oxnard woman in 1995, is also facing a possible death sentence if convicted. And prosecutors may seek the death penalty in another murder case involving two Los Angeles County men.

The Holland and Johnson trials are expected to proceed simultaneously, but the judges decided to stagger jury selection by a few days to ease the burden on court administrators.

On Monday, Holland sat chained to a swivel chair in court. Authorities requested that additional security measures be taken for the defendant, who has been convicted of car theft and has tried to flee police in the past.

Holland’s restraints were not visible to the dozens of prospective jurors who appeared in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Vincent O’Neill for the first day of jury selection.

During the morning session, Holland, dressed in a striped button-down dress shirt and khaki pants, sat quietly next to his lawyer with his hands folded in his lap.

“We are here for a limited purpose today . . . which is jury selection,” the judge said, asking the first group of 50 jury candidates if they could serve on what is expected to be at least a four-week trial.

If Holland is convicted of first-degree murder, the jury would be

asked to return after the holidays in January for a penalty phase to decide whether he should be punished by life in prison or death, the judge said.

“We obviously need to know if you can be fair to both sides,” O’Neill said.

According to authorities, Holland confronted Wilson on July 17, 1996, in the parking lot of the Poinsettia Mall in midtown Ventura.

When Wilson refused to give up the keys to her 1986 Ford Crown Victoria, Holland allegedly shot her once before speeding away in the car. Wilson collapsed in a parking lot planter and died.

Holland was arrested by Orange County authorities several days later after fleeing from Newport Beach police attempting to pull him over on a routine traffic stop.

After a high-speed chase, authorities captured Holland when his vehicle hit a patrol car and he tried to escape on foot. They allegedly found a concealed 25-caliber handgun in his waistband--the weapon Ventura police believe was used to kill Wilson.

Local authorities identified Holland as the alleged killer by tracking a purchase made on Wilson’s stolen credit card, they said. He was arrested in the Orange County Jail.

The Ventura County Grand Jury indicted Holland on charges of murder, robbery and carjacking in August 1996.

He also was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and the grand jury found true two special circumstances that the killing took place during the commission of a robbery and carjacking.

The two allegations make Holland eligible for the death penalty, which the district attorney decided to seek three months after the indictment.

Jury selection in Holland’s trial is expected to take about a month.