Acosta Pleads Not Guilty to Murder in Copter Collision

Vincent W. Acosta pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he is criminally responsible for the high-speed chase that led to a midair collision of two police helicopters last month, killing three men.

Acosta, accused of stealing a car and fleeing police March 11, when the helicopters collided and crashed, entered not-guilty pleas in Orange County Municipal Court to three counts of second-degree murder and to charges of auto theft and possession of stolen property.

Public defender William G. Kelley again attacked the decision to file murder charges against Acosta, 19, arguing that the charges are not “realistic.”

Kelley’s request that Acosta’s $500,000 bail be reduced was denied by Municipal Judge C. Robert Jameson.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Borris said it was his understanding that the Federal Aviation Administration investigation into the cause of the crash will not be completed for four months. Kelley said he probably will ask that the preliminary hearing, now scheduled for Aug. 14, be delayed until the report is done.

The crash killed two Costa Mesa police officers and a civilian observer. Killed were Officers James David Ketchum, 39, and John William Libolt, 39, and Jeffrey A. Pollard, 27, a civilian flight instructor from Tustin. Two Newport Beach police officers survived the crash-landing of their helicopter.

To convict Acosta of second-degree murder, prosecutors must persuade a jury that he acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others and that the chase he began caused the copter crash.

After the hearing, Kelley argued that his client would never have been charged with murder had the victims not included police officers.

“If there had been three civilians watching the chase (in a helicopter) and they crashed, you wouldn’t have seen second-degree-murder charges,” he said.

Kelley said police believe that “if there’s a policeman who dies, somebody’s gonna have to pay.”

Borris denied that allegation. It would have made no difference whether the deaths occurred in a midair crash or in a crash of pursuing police vehicles on the ground, he said, and if the fatality had been a pedestrian, the charges would have been the same.

Prosecutors assumed from the beginning that “pilot error or negligence” caused the collision, but Acosta is responsible because he was fleeing police, Borris said .

“The copters would not have been in those positions unless Mr. Acosta had set the stage by starting a high-speed chase,” Borris said.

A misdemeanor escape charge was also filed against Acosta Friday. Before the crash, Acosta, an unemployed Anaheim construction worker, had failed to show up for a work furlough program following a cocaine sales conviction.