Trial in Pizza Worker’s Slaying Could Start Next Week

Jury selection resumed Wednesday in the murder trial of a woman accused of killing a Domino’s Pizza delivery man, and a prosecutor predicted opening arguments by next week.

A Pasadena Superior Court jury for the trial of Ruby Padgett, 21, of West Columbia, S.C. should be empaneled in a few days, followed by pretrial motions, then arguments next Tuesday or Wednesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry A. Green said Wednesday.

Testimony in the trial should last two to three weeks, he said.

Padgett and boyfriend Mitchell Carlton Sims, 26, also of West Columbia are accused of strangling and drowning John Steven Harrigan, 21, on Dec. 9, 1985, after he delivered a pizza to their motel room in Glendale. Harrigan’s body was found later in a bathtub in the room, his limbs tied and a pillowcase over his head.

“It’s going to come out in evidence that the crime was thought out well in advance,” Green said. “It was very well planned.”

Sims, a former Domino’s manager in South Carolina, will be tried separately. Green said jury selection for Sims is scheduled Feb. 5.

The couple also is charged with two counts of attempted murder and three counts of robbery in the holdup the next day of the Domino’s parlor where Harrigan worked and with the theft of Harrigan’s delivery truck.

Two employees of the parlor were tied in a walk-in refrigerator in such a way they had to stand on tiptoe to avoid hanging themselves, Green said.

Sims also is charged in connection with two slayings of Domino’s employees in Hanahan, S.C., on Dec. 3, 1985. Padgett was accused of being an accomplice in those killings, Green said.

The couple will be returned to South Carolina for prosecution when the murder trials conclude here, he said.

If convicted of the Harrigan slaying, Padgett could face life in prison and Sims could face the death penalty, Green said. Padgett would face the less serious penalty because “there is no evidence of her direct involvement in the South Carolina murders,” Green said.