Death sentence brings closure

Deepa Bharath

The death sentence ordered by a Riverside County judge for a man who

kidnapped, molested and murdered a 13-year-old Costa Mesa boy and

molested another in Newport Beach marks the end of years of legal

ordeals and the dredging of memories that have haunted Newport-Mesa

for a quarter-century.

James Lee Crummel, 60, will face the death penalty for abducting

and killing James “Jamey” Trotter, who disappeared on April 19, 1979

while he was on his way to Gisler Middle School. The boy was

reportedly last seen walking on Harbor Boulevard from the motel where

he and his mother, Barbara Trotter Brogli, were staying. But he ended

up dead in a remote area off Ortega Highway.

After investigators spent years piecing together forensic

evidence, linking Crummel’s proximity to Trotter in 1979, and

uncovering what prosecutors said were Crummel’s frequent trips to the

wooded trail where the boy’s remains were found, Crummel was found

guilty May 18 by a Riverside County jury.

Riverside Superior Court Judge Dennis A. McConaghy handed down the

sentence Friday. The Trotter family had urged the judge to sentence

Crummel to death.

The trial was held in a Riverside court because Trotter’s remains

were found on a section of Ortega Highway in Riverside County.

Family and friends now hope that the tragedy that befell them does

not destroy other lives while they try to piece their own back

together.

“He’ll get neither mercy nor forgiveness from me,” Jamey’s

brother, Jeff Trotter, said Saturday. “I’m a Christian, but I’m not

Christ.”

Trotter, who spoke in court on Friday, said making statements in

front of the judge gave him the opportunity to “vent and release a

great deal of pent-up anger.”

Trotter implored Crummel to tell the parents of other children he

might have murdered about where he left or buried their remains so

that those parents could have some closure, he said.

Trotter said his younger brother’s death left a void in his life

that has never been filled.

“It doesn’t matter what picture you look at or what memory you

pick up, there’s someone missing there and that’ll never change,” he

said. “At this point, the healing will probably start, but our wounds

will never close.”

Crummel’s defense has argued that the prosecution built its case

on conjecture about Crummel’s past, which includes a history of

pedophilia. Public Defender May Ann Galante, who could not be reached

for comment Saturday, had said that her client “had expected the

worst” and that the case would automatically be appealed. She also

said that it would be several years before Crummel would be put to

death.

Crummel was already serving a life sentence for molesting a boy in

his Newport Crest condominium. He was arrested in 1997, and was a

part of one of Newport Beach’s first high-profile Megan’s Law cases.

Many neighbors protested day and night outside his home in an effort

to evict him from the neighborhood.Officials said in 1997 it was

Crummel himself who led police to Jamey’s charred remains. Jamey’s

death has made his family come closer and become stronger, Trotter

said.

“But Jamey shouldn’t have been the cause of it,” he said. “He

should’ve been a part of it.”

Barbara Brogli said Saturday that she was pleased that Crummel

“got what he deserved.”

“If someone does something so horrible to so many little children,

they deserve to die,” she said.

She said she realized the appeal process could take as many as 22

years, and that Crummel’s life would probably end before his

execution by law.

“But this is a strong statement that such crimes will not be

tolerated and deserve this kind of punishment,” she said. “I’m

relieved that he has been put away for the rest of his life and won’t

be able to do to any other child what he did to mine. No parent

should have to go through this.”

Jamey’s friend, Keith Johnson, who also testified during the

trial, said he felt “relieved that it’s over.”

“I’m glad they saw through him for who he really was, not who [the

defense] said he was,” Johnson said. “I’m glad he’ll never get out

and do this to another kid.”

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

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