Local News in Brief : 2 Ex-Police Officers Facing Murder Trial
Two former Los Angeles police officers, already convicted of attempted murder and armed robbery, were ordered Thursday to appear in Van Nuys Superior Court next week to begin a new trial on a charge that they murdered a Northridge man for $20,000.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alexander H. Williams III ordered former Devonshire Division officers Richard Herman Ford, 46, and Robert Anthony Von Villas, 42, to appear Wednesday before Judge Darlene E. Schempp in Van Nuys.
Ford and Von Villas are accused of murdering Thomas Weed, the 52-year-old owner of a Northridge allergy laboratory, who disappeared Feb. 23, 1983.
Weed’s former wife, Janie E. Ogilvie of Canoga Park, has told authorities that she paid Von Villas $20,000 to have Weed killed. Ogilvie has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy charges.
Ford of Northridge and Von Villas of Simi Valley could be sentenced to death if convicted of Weed’s murder.
Ford and Von Villas were convicted Jan. 7 of attempting to murder exotic dancer Joan Loguercio in 1983 so they could collect a $100,000 life insurance policy and robbing a Northridge jewelry store in 1982. Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert P. O’Neill said they face a minimum of 25 years in prison for those crimes.
Since the crime involving Weed was committed in the San Fernando Valley, defense attorneys asked that the second trial be moved from Los Angeles to Van Nuys. That motion was granted by Williams in March, but it was not until Thursday--after the first trial was completed--that the judge set a date for the trial.
Both men resigned from the police force the day after they were arrested in 1983 and they have been in jail since.
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