Judge denies motion in 1979 murder case

Deepa Bharath

A Riverside County judge on Monday denied a request made by James

Crummel’s defense team to admit evidence that could have exonerated

him of charges in the killing of a Costa Mesa teenager in 1979.

The defense team last spring unsuccessfully attempted to connect

executed murderer William Bonin, the notorious “Freeway Killer,” to

13-year-old Jamey Trotter’s death. Officials arrested Crummel in

Newport Beach in 1997 in connection with Trotter’s death after he

reportedly led police to the boy’s remains on a wooded trail off the

Ortega Freeway.

Last week in Riverside County, the defense presented James Munro,

who they said told five people over a period of 22 years that Bonin

killed Trotter. Munro was a co-defendant of Bonin’s and testified

against him in the last murder Bonin was convicted of. He is serving

a life sentence for being an accomplice in one of Bonin’s murders.

But Munro initially refused to testify and then recanted his story

linking Trotter’s death to Bonin in court last week.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Mitchell said he is pleased with Judge

Dennis McConaghy’s decision to find the evidence inadmissible. He

said Munro was not a credible witness and that his statements were

riddled with inconsistencies.

“Not hearing this piece of evidence will make the case shorter,”

Mitchell said. “I’m relieved by this decision and will be even more

relieved when the trial is over and [Crummel] is found guilty.”

Crummel, the city’s first high-profile case involving Megan’s Law,

has been behind bars since 1997 when he was arrested on suspicion of

murdering Trotter. Residents picketed day and night to get Crummel,

identified by police as a high-risk sex offender, out of their

Newport Crest neighborhood.

The former Newport Beach resident’s rap sheet dates back three

decades and unfurls a squalid history of child molestation. More

recently, Crummel was sentenced to 60 years to life for sexually

abusing a 16-year-old boy at his Newport Crest condo.

Lead defense counsel Mary Ann Galante said she is disappointed by

the judge’s decision.

“We believed it was a strong motion,” she said. “All we had to do

was to raise a reasonable doubt and we have evidence going back to

1982, when Munro told his [former] cellmate that Bonin killed

Trotter.”

Munro “reversed his story after the district attorney got to him,”

Galante said. Munro is up for a parole hearing in September and told

her he does not want to ruin his chances in that hearing by

testifying for the defense, Galante said.

“Our evidence is strong,” she said. “The district attorney is

going to have a tough time proving their case.”

Mitchell has said in the past that the district attorney’s office

had nothing to do with Munro recanting his story.

The jury trial is set to begin on Monday at Riverside Superior

Court.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

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