Jury still hasn’t emerged with decision in...

Jury still hasn’t emerged with decision in Crummel case

Jurors are still deliberating in the trial of James Lee Crummel,

accused of murdering a 13-year-old boy who disappeared 25 years ago

while walking down Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa.

The 60-year-old Crummel, already serving a life sentence for

sexually abusing a teenager in his Newport Crest condo, will face the

death penalty if found guilty of murdering Jamey Trotter.

Prosecutors say they have shown evidence of Crummel’s sordid

history of pedophilia. But the defense has argued that Crummel did

not kill Jamey and that the prosecution’s case was strung together on

assumptions based on his past.

Crummel reportedly led police to Jamey’s charred remains that were

scattered in a remote area off the Ortega Freeway.

The jury started deliberating Wednesday afternoon and will

continue today.