Feared Conviction, Comrades : Troiani Defendant Says He Was Afraid After Killing

Kevin Watkins testified Thursday in his murder trial that he didn’t realize the plans to kill Marine Staff Sgt. Carlo Troiani were actually carried out until the day after the killing, when triggerman Mark Schulz took him to the scene in Oceanside.

After realizing that the murder plot was real, Watkins said, he was afraid to turn himself in for fear that “maybe I was guilty just by association” with the other Marines who played a role in the August, 1984, ambush shooting.

“People are convicted every day on the basis of circumstantial evidence,” Watkins told a Ventura jury in explaining his reluctance to step forward after Troiani’s killing.

One of 5 Accused

Watkins is one of five former Marines accused of conspiring with Laura Troiani to kill her husband of five years, in exchange for $500 each to be paid from the victim’s $95,000 life insurance policy.

Watkins, now 23, is the only one of the five to stand trial and maintain his innocence. The other four pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after Laura Troiani herself was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole.

Prosecutors allege that, although Watkins was not at the slaying scene, he conspired with the others to kill Troiani and participated in an earlier, foiled attempt to kill the man.

Watkins, during four hours of cross-examination Thursday, was at times feisty with San Diego County Deputy Dist. Atty. Phil Walden, accusing the prosecutor of “putting words in my mouth” when challenging him for not pulling out of the murder plot before it was carried out and for not coming forward after the murder.

Asked if in fact he knew the murder plan was being taken seriously by the others, Watkins answered, “No, I didn’t know, sir.”

Watkins insisted he never considered himself a witness to the murder because he did not personally see it.

He said he also feared testifying against the other defendants because of the fraternal bond between them.

Asked whether that same bond should have extended to the dead man Troiani, who was an 18-year veteran of the Marine Corps, Watkins answered:

“I agree with you. What happened to Staff Sgt. Troiani was a tragedy. But I didn’t see them kill Troiani.”

The Ventura Superior Court jury is hearing the case because of extensive pretrial publicity in northern San Diego County. The jury is expected to begin its deliberations on Monday.