Fast-food murder trial goes to jury

Deepa Bharath

SANTA ANA -- The jury is set to begin deliberation today in the trial

of a Downey man accused of publicly shooting and killing a 49-year-old

Newport Beach resident a year ago.

Prosecution and defense attorneys made their closing arguments

Thursday in the trial of 42-year-old Ramadan Dokovic. Several people

witnessed the shooting that happened the afternoon of May 18, 2001, in

the parking lot of a Jack in the Box restaurant at the corner of Tustin

Avenue and 17th Street in Costa Mesa.

The prosecution maintains Dokovic shot Miroslav Maric because he was

disappointed at not getting a few stolen Rolex watches from him. Dokovic

told police he had made a deal with Costa Mesa jeweler Glenn Verdult that

he would retrieve those watches in exchange for $20,000.

Dokovic said Verdult claimed the watches belonged to him and another

jeweler and that they were taken by Mike Dokovic, who allegedly headed a

credit card fraud ring in the Newport-Mesa area.

Dokovic said Mike Dokovic, whose real name is Ilmija Frjluckic, was

involved in a bank fraud 10 years ago in New York. Ramadan Dokovic had

cooperated with federal agents to help convict his nephew.

Dokovic told police he expected Maric would lead him to Mike Dokovic

and the stolen Rolex watches.

The defense argued Thursday that Dokovic shot Maric, but did so in an

act of self defense.

Public Defender Dolores Yost told jurors Thursday during her closing

statements that the evidence she presented clearly showed that both

Dokovic and Maric struggled to gain possession of the gun.

“Many of the witnesses said they heard two voices yelling in

Yugoslavian,” she said. “Miroslav Maric was not yelling out for help. He

was yelling at my client.”

Yost said Maric, Mike Dokovic and their associates were dangerous

people involved in criminal activity and that her client put a loaded gun

in his backpack before his meeting with Maric only to protect himself.

She also pointed out that in the men’s struggle for the gun, it was

Maric who got the first shot at Dokovic as was evident from a bullet hole

in the passenger seat of the Mercedes convertible they were in when the

incident happened.

Yost also portrayed her client as an “unsophisticated” person who

virtually “made the case for the police.”

“He is painfully honest,” she told jurors. “His statements to the

police are not self-serving at all. They are damaging.”

Prosecutor Matt Murphy argued that the fact Maric was involved in

criminal activity does not mean his killing can be excused.

“We as a society are not going to miss Miroslav Maric,” he said. “He

was, however, a human being -- a helpless person screaming for help.”

Murphy alleged that Dokovic had planned to get the watches from Maric

“by hook or crook.”

“That’s attempted robbery,” he said. “If you go some place, stick a

gun in somebody’s face and tell them to give you something, that’s

robbery.”

Mike Dokovic and the rest of his gang were living the high life in

Newport Beach while Ramadan Dokovic lived in a rundown apartment in

Downey scrambling to pay bills and child support, Murphy said.

“[Dokovic] wanted a piece of the action as well,” he said. “For him,

that was going to be a big, giant payday.”

Also, Dokovic had the time to think about the consequences of his

actions, Murphy said. Dokovic knew from the reactions of people around

the crowded parking lot that the police were on their way, he said.

“He knew the cops were coming before he fired the third and fatal

shot,” he said. “He knew there were going to be consequences.”

Dokovic did not have to fire that third shot into Maric’s head to

protect himself, Murphy said.

“He had already shot him in the waist and chest,” he said. “That third

shot was not necessary. That third shot was cold.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .