Local News in Brief : Businessman Pleads Not Guilty to Slaying
A Long Beach man pleaded not guilty Monday in a murder-for-hire plot in which one person was killed and another was injured.
Dean Kennedy, 29, is charged with the murder of his business associate, Thomas Wilson, 35, and the attempted murder of Wilson’s girlfriend, Susan Yee, 32, both of Van Nuys.
The murder charge carries a special circumstance allegation of soliciting a killing. Kennedy could receive the death penalty if convicted.
The charges stem from a Dec. 23 shooting at Wilson’s home. At 2 a.m., two men knocked on Wilson’s door, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lloyd M. Nash said. When no one answered, they kicked in the door and shot Wilson twice in the head and once in the stomach, Nash said.
Yee also was shot, but she recovered, Nash said. Neither gunman has been found, and Kennedy is the only person charged in the slaying.
At his arraignment Monday, Kennedy was ordered by Patricia Gorner Schwartz, commissioner at Van Nuys Municipal Court, to return to court April 22, when a preliminary hearing will be scheduled. Kennedy is being held without bail in County Jail.
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