New Hearing Set in Death of Martello : Jurisprudence: The prosecution will try again to establish its case against Richard Lockridge in the death of his partner at a Fullerton business.

By LILY DIZON

Nov. 17, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SANTA ANA —

A preliminary hearing for a Fullerton businessman charged with strangling his business partner and dumping her body in the desert has been scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors said.

A judge in February dismissed murder charges against Richard Lawrence Lockridge, 38, of La Crescenta, ruling that there had been false testimony during that preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors refiled the charges in May because they felt the testimony was accurate, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson, who is handling the case.

Lockridge’s attorney could not be reached for comment Monday.

Lockridge is accused of murdering Kim Martello in the warehouse of ERB Foods in Fullerton in a dispute over ownership of the supply company. Martello, 28, of Fountain Valley, disappeared July 22. Her body was found three days later near Palm Springs.

Lockridge was arrested three weeks after her disappearance.

In the February preliminary hearing, Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey found that false evidence had been presented regarding the Riverside coroner’s opinion as to Martello’s time of death.

A Fullerton police detective testified that the pathologist told him Martello had been dead three days before her body was found. The pathologist, under oath, insisted that he had never estimated the time of death in his conversation with the detective.

While the judge ruled that “false evidence (was) presented,” he did not allege or find evidence of perjury.

The three-day estimate has been determined by officials to be correct, said Robinson. “And if the pathologist didn’t tell the detective that, how would that officer have known?

“The whole thing appeared to be a misunderstanding . . . or else the pathologist might have forgotten what he told the officer,” Robinson said. “At any rate, we’re back to square one; the murder charge stands and nothing has changed.”