Plea Bargain Ends L.A. Case Against ‘Billionaire’ Suspect

Billionaire Boys Club bodyguard Jim Pittman pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact Tuesday when the district attorney’s office agreed to drop murder and robbery charges against the suspected triggerman in the 1984 slaying of Beverly Hills con man Ron Levin.

Pittman, 34, also pleaded guilty to a second felony, possession of a concealed weapon, a pen gun. The plea bargain means that he will, technically, be a free man after sentencing on Dec. 1 because he has already served three years--more than the maximum amount of jail time the combined offenses carry, minus good time. He has been held in Men’s Central Jail since his arrest in the fall of 1984 in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Faces Second Trial

However, because he is also charged with the 1984 kidnap-murder of wealthy Iranian Hedayat Eslaminia in Northern California, he will be transferred to Redwood City to await trial in that case. There are also warrants outstanding for his arrest on other crimes, including an allegation that he threw a chemical at a man in Orange County, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Fred Wapner said he recommended the plea arrangement after two juries failed to reach a verdict, the first leaning toward conviction and the second toward acquittal.

“It was my opinion that although Pittman is definitely guilty of murder, we’ve had two hung juries and we’re not likely to get a better result a third time,” Wapner said. The fact that Pittman still faces charges in the Eslaminia murder, he added, played a part in his office’s willingness to drop the Levin murder charge.

Wapner said he was “frustrated” at having successfully put Billionaire Boys Club leader and master planner Joe Hunt behind bars for life without possibility of parole, and then having failed to convince jurors that Hunt’s alleged hit man was similarly guilty. Hunt, 28, was convicted last April of murder with special circumstances and is now in California State Prison at Folsom. Levin, 42, disappeared in June, 1984. He was allegedly shot in the head in his Beverly Hills duplex after he duped Hunt out of $4 million in phony commodities trades.

Pittman’s attorney, a jubilant Jeff Brodey, termed the district attorney’s offer “really too good to turn down.” Still, snags such as Pittman’s reluctance to admit guilt and the exact language of the charge--”aiding a principal to help avoid detection after a felony” (Levin’s murder)--resulted in nearly three hours of hushed conferences and negotiations in Santa Monica Superior Court before the issue was resolved.

‘Thank God This Is Over’

“Thank God this is over,” Pittman sighed as Brodey patted him on the back.

The lawyer said his client “hated pleading guilty, it hurt him, but he did it to get this over with.” Pittman--who was the doorman at Hunt’s Westwood condominium before becoming involved with the club--halted the proceedings several times, telling his lawyers, “Wait a minute,” and “I really don’t . . . .”

Finally, asked whether he was “pleading guilty because you are in fact guilty,” Pittman answered quietly, “Yes.”

Brodey told Judge James A. Albracht that he feared that as a result of this week’s NBC-TV “Billionaire Boys Club” miniseries, Pittman would not be able to find a fair and impartial jury if tried a third time.

Said an amused Albracht: “I can’t imagine many people watched it through to the conclusion.” However, he found the plea-bargain arrangement “acceptable.”

Outside the courtroom, Brodey and co-counsel Barry Greenhalgh stressed that Pittman’s admission of guilt pertains only to his having used Levin’s name and credit cards in a New York hotel, allegedly to impersonate the dead man. They said he wasn’t admitting that he was present when Levin was killed or that he helped dispose of the body, which has never been found.

Wapner said the language of the plea bargain was purposely “vague and all-encompassing. It allows you to get the plea and so both sides will feel comfortable.

“I’m convinced he (not only was there but also) was the one who actually pulled the trigger,” Wapner said.

The so-called Billionaire Boys Club was a nickname for BBC Consolidated, a social and investment group composed of young men from affluent and prestigious Southern California families.

Two members of the group, Reza Eslaminia, son of the murdered Eslaminia, and Ben Dosti, son of a Times writer, are currently on trial in Redwood City, while Hunt and Pittman will be tried later. A fifth member, Dean Karny, admitted helping to plan the Levin murder and participating in the Eslaminia murder and was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.