Defense in Cosby Case Seeks a Retrial

Lawyers for the man convicted of killing Ennis Cosby asked for a new trial Monday, alleging jury misconduct and that the prosecution violated a court order barring any mention of gang affiliation.

On July 7, a jury found 20-year-old Mikail Markhasev guilty of murdering entertainer Bill Cosby’s son on a lonely road off the San Diego Freeway. After reviewing evidence that included letters handwritten by Markhasev claiming responsibility for the Jan. 16 murder, jurors reached the verdict in less then six hours. It was, according to one juror, “open and shut for most of us.”

But Deputy Alternate Public Defender Henry J. Hall, who represented Markhasev, argued in a 23-page brief filed Friday that the jury had made up its mind before even hearing the case, thereby entitling Markhasev to a new trial.

Markhasev is scheduled for sentencing today. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without chance of parole. Superior Court Judge David Perez must rule on Hall’s motion for a new trial before sentencing Markhasev.

Among the evidence Hall cites as justification for a new trial are the comments of juror Stephanie Osborne.

After the verdict had been rendered, she wrote a letter to the court and subsequently told district attorney investigators that “it seems like everybody was--you know, they had already found . . . Markhasev guilty . . . before we went into deliberations, OK?”

In his brief, Hall alleges that this attitude, plus the wish of some jurors to find Markhasev guilty so they could leave quickly, constituted misconduct.

“From the statement of Juror Osborne, it is clear that several jurors prejudged this case and arrived at verdicts prior to the case being submitted to them,” Hall wrote.

Hall also says that Osborne notified a bailiff of these issues, but that the court did not investigate.

“Juror Osborne’s stated consideration of asking to be removed from the jury and her passing of information to the bailiff which demonstrated that several jurors had prejudge the case triggered that duty to conduct an investigation,” Hall wrote. “The court’s failure to do so requires a new trial.”

Judges are supposed to conduct a hearing into juror misconduct if there is evidence.

Hall has other complaints about the way Perez handled the case.

The court, Hall argued in his brief, should have allowed more evidence that cast suspicion on Eli Zakaria, a companion of Markhasev’s the night of the murder. A cornerstone of Hall’s defense was the possibility that Zakaria, not Markhasev, killed Cosby.

Hall also said Perez failed to enforce a pretrial order that Markhasev’s gang affiliations would not be allowed in the case. One particularly damaging reference, Hall said, was the prosecution’s allegation that Markhasev was a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Anne Ingalls, who prosecuted the case, did not return calls for comment.