Final Troiani Defendant Says He Was Forced to Participate

Only one of five former Marines to continue to maintain his innocence in the August, 1984, ambush murder of Marine Staff Sgt. Carlo Troiani testified on his own behalf Wednesday, saying he was forced at gunpoint to participate in the murder-for-hire scheme orchestrated by the victim’s wife, Laura Troiani.

Kevin Watkins, 23, said he was an unwilling partner in the conspiracy and participated only because he was threatened with death if he backed out.

Watkins is being tried in Ventura following San Diego County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Nares’ ruling that there was too much publicity in North County to guarantee a fair trial in Vista.

Watkins, dressed in a coat and tie, took the stand Wednesday as the final defense witness. Deputy Dist. Atty. Philip Walden is expected to cross-examine Watkins today and Nares, who is hearing the case, said the jury will be given its instructions Friday.

A Vista Superior Court jury last year convicted Laura Troiani of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the death of her husband, and sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Triggerman Mark Schulz, who admitted shooting Troiani twice in the back after Troiani was lured to a desolate stretch of North River Road on the pretense that his wife had car trouble, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and also was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Three other co-defendants pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received lesser sentences of 25 years to life in prison.

Watkins is the only defendant among the former Marines to plead not guilty and to also go on trial. (Schulz at first pleaded not guilty but later made a plea bargain.) The participants were to have been paid $500 each by Laura Troiani with money she intended to collect from her husband’s $95,000 life insurance policy.

Watkins testified Wednesday that he did not realize he was part of a murder plot until Aug. 9, the day before Troiani was killed, when he and Schulz went to Troiani’s apartment in Oceanside.

Called Out From Porch

Watkins said he was given a knife by Schulz with which to stab Troiani in the back, and that, when he balked, Schulz displayed a .357 magnum handgun and forced the issue.

The two men were looking unsuccessfully for Troiani’s apartment when, ironically, Troiani himself called out from a second-level porch and asked if the men needed directions. He then invited the pair to his apartment when they said they were looking for him so they could pick up an Avon cosmetics order from Laura Troiani.

Once inside, Watkins said, Schulz nodded to him at the moment he was supposed to stab Troiani. But Watkins again balked, and the two left the apartment.

“I think he was a little suspicious about two guys” coming to his apartment for an Avon order, Watkins said.

The next night, Aug. 10, Watkins said, he accompanied the other Marines and Troiani to a convenience store, where he and two others watched Laura Troiani’s two children. He said Laura Troiani, Schulz and Russell Harrison then drove away to kill Troiani.

He said he was asked to make the call to Troiani to lure him to the site but that he refused. “I was just too shook up and I didn’t want to do anything,” he said.

In addition to Watkins’ testimony, a diary written by him after his arrest--copies of which were given to the jury--included several references to the murder.

One notation reads: “I don’t really remember exactly how I got involved in this, or why. I didn’t expect to get any money, but I can’t remember why I would have gotten involved to the point of going out with Schulz to help kill him.”