Murder Conviction Overturned by Court : New Trial Ordered for Costa Mesa Man in 1981 Beating Death

The conviction and life-without-parole sentence of a Costa Mesa man in the 1981 robbery and beating death of an acquaintance of his roommate were overturned by an appellate court Thursday because the jury was not instructed correctly.

Rami K. Darwiche, 25, a native of Lebanon, will be brought back to Orange County for a new murder trial, said Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. John D. Conley. Conley added that he will once again seek a sentence of life without parole because the murder occurred during a robbery.

Darwiche admitted at his trial that he was in the car with his roommate, Sam Monsoor, when Carl Lawson, a friend of Monsoor, was killed and robbed in a Costa Mesa restaurant parking lot on April 13, 1981. But Darwiche said Monsoor beat the man over the head and killed him while Darwiche tried to stop the attack.

Monsoor, tried separately, blamed it all on Darwiche. He said he was surprised to see Darwiche suddenly attack Lawson. Monsoor was acquitted.

Special Circumstances

Darwiche was convicted of first-degree murder in January of 1982. Jurors found that the killing had occurred under special circumstances--in the course of a robbery--which automatically meant a life-without-parole sentence.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, following state Supreme Court guidelines issued since the trial, reversed the conviction. The trial judge, the appellate justices said, should have told the jurors that Darwiche had to have “the intent to kill” before he could be found guilty of first-degree murder.

Conley, the prosecutor for both Darwiche and Monsoor, contends that Darwiche was the one who both shot Lawson and beat him over the head.

Two witnesses who saw the men in the car testified that they saw the man in the back seat beating Lawson over the head. Darwiche admitted that he was in the back seat.

Jewelry Missing

Lawson, a hairdresser, was known to carry a lot of jewelry, as well as a handgun. He was found shot to death with his own handgun, but he had been beaten over the head with a pellet gun. Most of his jewelry was missing.

Monsoor eventually turned himself in to police. Darwiche was arrested at the Mexican border near El Paso with some of Lawson’s jewelry.

The 4th District Court of Appeal two years ago upheld Darwiche’s conviction. But after that the state Supreme Court issued the new “intent to kill” guidelines and ordered the Santa Ana appellate court to reconsider the case.

Conley was disappointed by the reversal.

“I don’t think it’s going to make a difference in the outcome, but we’ll just have to do it again,” Conley said.