Judge Denies Bail for Ex-Car Dealer Accused in Murder-for-Hire

Vista Superior Court Judge J. Morgan Lester refused to set bail Friday for former San Diego automobile dealership executive Will Nix, saying “there is no question . . . that evidence of Mr. Nix’s guilt is great” in the alleged murder-for-hire of Encinitas car salesman Salvatore T. Ruscitti.

Lester said Nix’s “chances of bail are a giant zero” because of allegations of past dependence on cocaine, efforts to influence testimony before the grand jury, threats to witnesses against him and because he faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Nix is one of four men charged with plotting and carrying out the execution-style killing of Ruscitti, who was shot dead at his front door on Sept. 17, 1988. Prosecutors allege Nix wanted Ruscitti killed for his involvement in a class-action lawsuit against a car dealership owned by Nix’s parents.

The lawsuit claimed that salesmen at the then-Center City Ford were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions.

The district attorney’s office said it will press for special circumstances in the case because the killing was allegedly committed for financial gain. But prosecutors no longer will seek the death penalty for Nix or his three co-defendants.

“After reviewing the facts of this case, and comparing them to other murder cases, we decided that life in prison without the possibility of parole was the best sentence to seek,” said district attorney’s spokeswoman Linda Miller. She said the decision had the blessing of the victim’s family.