Woman on Trial in Murder Described as a Victim
A woman accused of helping a drifter kidnap two Chatsworth girls and kill one of them was forced at gunpoint to cooperate with the man, the woman’s attorneys said in court Monday.
Marsha Lynn Ramos was as much a victim of drifter Roland Norman Comtois as were the two girls, according to Alex R. Kessel, one of two attorneys representing Ramos in her San Fernando Superior Court trial on charges that include murder and kidnaping.
“All her actions were done at gunpoint by Mr. Comtois,” Kessel said in his opening statement. “There’s only one perpetrator, who has been put to justice, and that’s Roland Comtois.”
Comtois, 60, was sentenced July 31 to the gas chamber after he was convicted of murder, attempted murder, kidnaping, attempted sodomy and other charges.
Ramos is accused of luring Wendy Masuhara, 14, who was shot to death, and a 13-year-old girl into Comtois’ camper on Sept. 18, 1987.
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