Local News in Brief : Guard Must Stand Trial
A private security guard Tuesday was ordered to stand trial on separate felony charges of kidnaping and child stealing in the abduction of a 13-month-old boy from the Pacific Palisades home of his adoptive parents.
Los Angeles Municipal Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis ordered Jonathan H. Cosby, 27, of North Hollywood to appear for arraignment Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. He remains in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
The boy’s natural mother, Bonnie Kiefer, 40, and her husband, Francis Kiefer, 41, are in custody in Mercer County, N.J., pending extradition to California.
The boy, Brian Smith, was with the Kiefers when they were arrested at their home in Moorestown, N.J., two days after the Dec. 11 abduction.
Cosby’s attorney, Richard Knickerbocker, argued that his client committed no crime because he was acting at the behest of the child’s legal parents. The California court order awarding custody of Brian to the adoptive parents, Kenneth and Barbara Smith, is not final, Knickerbocker said, because the Kiefers are appealing the decision. The judge rejected the argument.
Los Angeles Police Detective Norman A. Jackson testified that Cosby told police he planned the abduction with the boy’s natural mother but said it was actually carried out by a man named Rico. Police have been unable to find Rico, Jackson said.
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