2 Ex-Marines Guilty of Double Murder at Newport Coin Store

Two former Tustin Marines were found guilty of first-degree murder Monday in a 1989 robbery and shooting at the Newport Coin Exchange that left two people dead and a third victim with permanent brain damage.

“There was no rhyme or reason for this crime,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson said. “They were seeking thrills. They didn’t need the money . . . they were bored, looking for excitement.”

Convicted were Eric John Wick, now 20, the son of an FBI agent, and Thomas Reed Merrill, now 26. Wick and Merrill had been best friends when stationed two years ago at the Marine Corps Air Station at Tustin, but at their joint trial they each tried to blame the other for what happened in the March 14, 1989, robbery at the Newport Beach coin dealership on MacArthur Boulevard.

The jury verdicts ordinarily would mean an automatic sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. But Robinson said that because of the defendants’ age and lack of prior record, the trial commissioner might strike some of the jury findings. That could reduce the sentence for one or both of them to 27 years to life.

Killed in the shooting were Clyde Oatts, 45, and Rene King, 38, wife of owner William D. King, now 39. William King was wounded and left with permanent brain damage, which prevented him from identifying the assailants when he testified.

But King recognized Wick as a customer who had placed an expensive order a few days before the shooting. Prosecutors speculated that Wick and Merrill wanted to make sure the dealership would have valuable coins on hand when they robbed it.

After three days of deliberation, the jurors found each of the defendants guilty of the two murders, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, conspiracy and special circumstances of multiple murder and murder during a robbery. It is the special circumstances that mean a life without parole sentence in California.

Merrill testified that he wasn’t involved in the robbery. His attorney, Gary W. Pohlson, argued that while Wick’s involvement might have been apparent from witnesses and other evidence--the murder weapon was found in Wick’s car--evidence against Merrill was weak.

After the verdicts, Pohlson appeared more upset than his client, who sat with his chin resting in his hand and biting his lip.

“I’m so disappointed I don’t want to talk about it,” Pohlson said. “I really believe he is innocent.”

Wick did not testify at the trial. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Tim P. Severin, did not try to refute the evidence that Wick was inside the store during the robbery.

But he laid out for jurors a scenario in which Wick entered the dealership unaware that his friend Merrill was going to pull out a gun and start firing. Severin argued it was possible that Wick had grabbed a shotgun belonging to the owner King and held it on Merrill in an attempt to stop the killings. Witnesses outside the store had seen Wick with a shotgun.

After the verdicts, Severin said he was “really disappointed that they found intent to kill for (Wick); I just don’t think there was evidence of that.” Jurors cannot return special circumstance findings against a defendant without agreeing that he knew killings were likely.

Family members for the two defendants declined to discuss the case with reporters.

FBI agent Bruce Wick, assigned to the agency’s Reno, Nev., office, became angry with a news photographer for taking pictures of him and his wife and their two daughters as they heard the verdicts. But after leaving, he came back to apologize.

“You have to understand, my family is crushed about this,” he explained. “This is our only son.”

Merrill’s mother also declined comment, but listened intently when jurors were interviewed by news reporters.

The jurors said that her son’s testimony was a key element in his conviction.

“He didn’t give a straight answer on anything,” said jury foreman Robert Thews of Buena Park. “If a person is innocent, he should be able to give quick answers. It was like he (Merrill) was trying to play games (on cross-examination).”

Juror Doris Vaughan of Irvine said the special circumstance finding on Wick was the hardest decision in the deliberations.

“I really wonder if he couldn’t have helped his cause by testifying,” she said. “His defense left so much unanswered.”

Trial Commissioner Richard M. Aronson set sentencing for both defendants for Aug. 23. Commissioners, appointed by the other judges to help with the court caseload, rarely preside over murder trials. But the attorneys for both sides agreed to accept Aronson, a former public defender who also has worked for the 4th District Court of Appeal.

“We only wanted a fair hearing, and he gave us one,” prosecutor Robinson said.

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this report.