‘Cotton Club’ Killer to Serve as Own Lawyer
One of two hired killers convicted in the “Cotton Club” murder case won a bid in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday to represent himself in the penalty phase of the trial and indicated he would prefer to die in the gas chamber rather than spend his life behind bars.
The defendant, Alex Marti, had filed a motion seeking to defend himself in the penalty phase even before the trial began last fall. But the motion was denied at that time.
Marti, 30, and three others--William Mentzer, 42, Karen DeLayne Greenberger, 43, and Robert Ulmer Lowe, 44--were convicted July 22 in the 1983 kidnaping and murder of New York theatrical producer Roy Radin. Radin was killed over a disputed financial deal in the making of the movie “The Cotton Club.”
Mentzer and Marti, the triggermen, were found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnaping, as well as six special circumstance allegations that made them eligible for the death penalty.
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