THE SIDELINES : Blatt’s Murder Trial Under Way
Michael Blatt, once general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, went on trial for his life today, accused of hiring two former college football players to kill a one-time business partner.
The partner, real estate agent Laurence J. Carnegie, was shot with a crossbow bolt near Stockton on Feb. 28, 1989, then strangled and his body dumped in rural Sonoma County.
James O. Mackey and Carl C. Hancock, who played football at University of the Pacific in Stockton, confessed to the slaying and, in exchange for reduced sentences, agreed to testify against Blatt.
The case was moved from San Joaquin County to Alameda County on a change of venue due to the volume of news coverage of the case.
Blatt, a millionaire real estate developer and sports agent who is charged with murder, conspiracy and the special circumstance of murder for financial gain, could face the death penalty if convicted on all counts.
The prosecution alleges Blatt hired Mackey and Hancock to kill Carnegie because the two were embroiled in a court battle over a failed business deal.
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