‘Cotton Club’ Jury Urges Life Terms : Killing: Panel recommends prison without the possibility of parole for two murderers of theatrical entrepreneur Roy Radin.

Rejecting the death penalty, a jury Friday called for two men convicted of the 1983 “Cotton Club” killing of theatrical entrepreneur Roy Radin to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

The panel’s recommendation ended the monthlong penalty phase of the Superior Court trial of Alex Marti, 30, of Sherman Oaks and William Mentzer, 42, of Canoga Park, both former bodyguards for Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.

Prosecutors had sought death in the gas chamber for Marti and Mentzer after they were convicted in July of first-degree murder with special circumstances of kidnaping and killing for financial profit. Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution said they expect the jury’s recommendation to be accepted by the judge.

During the yearlong trial, jurors listened to a parade of witnesses detail a seamy underbelly of the entertainment industry with tales of sex, greed and cocaine. The gruesome murder-for-hire case allegedly revolved around disputes in the production of the movie “The Cotton Club.”

Jurors told reporters Friday that they felt some sympathy for the convicted triggermen. Mentzer’s background included being abused as a child and suffering emotional problems from service as a Marine machinegunner in Vietnam.

Marti, who acted as his own attorney in the penalty phase, apparently had not been involved in previous crimes and revealed a personable side that swayed them against a death sentence, jurors said.

“We used . . . pity,” said juror Brenda Greene, an administrative assistant from Pasadena. “But we were not undermining the horribleness of the crime.”

Juror Jesse Cerda, a city Department of Water and Power worker, said he began the trial strongly believing in the death penalty. But in the end he opposed a death sentence because the defendants were “not as cold blooded as the prosecution made them out to be.” A majority favored life sentences from the start of the penalty deliberations, jurors said.

“We thought the death penalty was warranted under the circumstances,” Deputy Dist. Atty. David Conn said. “But we feel the (jury’s) verdict is something we can’t quarrel with.”

The defendants did not comment to reporters before being led from the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies. Marti, apparently pleased by the sentence recommendation, bantered briefly with Judge Curtiss Rappe, quipping that he had done his best in the penalty phase of the trial when he represented himself.

Mentzer’s defense attorney, Charles Cervantes, said Mentzer was “very gratified” by the sentence.

Martiwill be sentenced Nov. 21. Mentzer is to be sentenced Nov. 27.

Marti and Mentzer were convicted of slaying Radin during negotiations for the movie “The Cotton Club.”

Radin made his first million dollars before he was 20 by staging small-time, vaudeville-type shows on the East Coast and had come to Los Angeles to become a movie producer.

The slaying was ordered by would-be Hollywood deal maker and one-time cocaine dealer Karen (Lanie) Greenberger, the prosecution maintained during an eight-month trial. She believed that Radin, who was helping finance “The Cotton Club,” was working with former Paramount Studios chief Robert Evans to cut her out of the producer’s role, prosecutors said.

Greenberger and another defendant, Robert Lowe, were convicted of second-degree murder and are awaiting sentencing.

Greenberger’s attorney has maintained that she was framed by a powerful Miami-based drug dealer who suspected Radin of stealing $1 million of his cocaine and money from her home in Sherman Oaks.

Evans was called as a witness during the preliminary hearing, but invoked his 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

Greenberger testified that he had nothing to do with Radin’s slaying.

She and her three co-defendants were arrested five years after a beekeeper found Radin’s body in a canyon 65 miles north of Los Angeles. Radin had been shot 13 times and a stick of dynamite had been stuck in his mouth and ignited.

Radin was portrayed during the trial as having been a portly high school dropout turned millionaire who had a taste for cocaine and a yen to make it big in Hollywood.

He was last seen May 13, 1983, getting into a limousine with Greenberger on their way to dinner in Beverly Hills. A witness testified that Lowe, who was driving, pulled over to the side of the road, at which time Greenberger got out of the car and Marti and Mentzer got in.