Maniscalco’s Defense: The Prosecution’s Star Witness Did It

Attorneys for biker-lawyer Thomas Maniscalco told a Superior Court jury Thursday that the 1980 triple execution he is accused of ordering was instead the handiwork of the prosecution’s star witness.

“The wrong man is being charged,” defense attorney Andrew Roth said in closing arguments.

The prosecution’s case, Roth argued to the jury, is built upon the “unbelievable” testimony of a disreputable group of “dope dealers . . . thieves . . . and murder accomplices” who agreed to frame Maniscalco in exchange for immunity from prosecution. “Every single one of (the six witnesses) got on the stand and lied to you.”

The accusations came as one of the county’s longest and most complex murder cases ever draws to a close in a Santa Ana Superior courtroom. Prosecutors are expected to deliver rebuttal arguments today, and then the jury will begin deliberations.

Maniscalco, a radical lawyer and a founder of the Hessian motorcycle gang, is on trial for allegedly masterminding the 1980 Memorial Day weekend murders to avenge rip-offs of his drug and money-counterfeiting empire. He denies the charges.

If convicted, Maniscalco, now 45, could face the death penalty.

On Thursday, his attorneys--Roth and co-counsel Joanne Harrold--launched a stinging attack against the prosecution’s case, including the most important witness, Robert Robbins, who testified that Maniscalco ordered the death of a member of the Hessian gang who had been stealing from the organization.

The defense lawyers contended that Robbins lied when he told the jurors that he did not shoot anyone on the day of the murders. The evidence shows, the attorneys insisted, that Robbins, a biker and admitted dope dealer, shot the victims as did fellow biker “Little Phil” Warren.

Warren, who the prosecution contends was the sole gunman, subsequently died in 1982 during a confrontation with police in Oklahoma.

After the murders, Robbins fled California and hid out deep in the woods of northern Michigan for a year, the defense lawyers said. But before he went into hiding, he confided in two friends that he and Warren fired 14 bullets from a .22-caliber pistol into the bodies of two men and a woman at a Westminster home.

Killed in the attack were Richard (Rabbit) Rizzone, 36, a fellow Hessian and boyhood friend of Maniscalco. Rizzone’s 19-year-old girlfriend, Rena Miley, and his bodyguard, Thomas Monahan, 28, were also slain.

Rizzone was shot in the back, neck and head. Miley was raped and then shot three times in the head. Monahan was shot eight times, at least four of the shots hitting him between the eyes.

In 1981, Robbins emerged from hiding, began to talk to authorities and pointed the finger at Maniscalco. He was granted immunity from prosecution and given a new identity after convincing prosecutors that he had not participated in the actual shootings.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard King has acknowledged that Robbins is an accomplice to the murders because he participated in burglarizing the house during the incident. King, however, insisted during his argument that Robbins did not shoot the victims.

King also argued to the jury Wednesday that although Maniscalco himself did not pull the trigger, “the defendant was the chairman of the board, godfather, the person who called all the shots.”

According to the prosecutor, Maniscalco began developing the murder plan back in March, 1980. His intention, according to King, was to kill Rizzone because he believed that he was stealing drugs and money from his drug-dealing and counterfeiting organization.

But attorney Roth argued that King’s theory is unbelievable. Maniscalco couldn’t have been planning in March, 1980, to kill Rizzone over stealing counterfeit money because no money had even been printed for the group until a month later, Roth told the jury.

Harrold implied to the jury Thursday that Maniscalco’s prosecution may have been motivated by his unpopular image as a lawyer who commonly defended bikers and drug dealers and the fact that he had requested the grand jury to investigate alleged incidents of improper conduct by police in Orange County.

Maniscalco’s decision to “make waves” may have been a “big mistake,” Harrold said.

Daniel Duffy, another Hessian biker, is also charged with the murders but is being tried separately. His case is expected to begin next September. He also could face the death penalty if convicted.