Alvarez Defense Moves to Find if Death Penalty Is Sought

Eager to prepare their defense, attorneys for murder suspect David Alvarez have asked a judge to force state prosecutors to decide whether they intend to seek the death penalty.

Alvarez, a 22-year-old Ojai resident, is charged with murder and attempted rape in the December 1998 killing of Oak View teen Kali Manley. He also faces a special allegation that he strangled the girl during an attempted rape.

The allegation makes him eligible for the death penalty, though prosecutors have not announced whether they intend to pursue it.

On Tuesday, defense attorney James M. Farley filed a motion asking a judge to compel prosecutors to announce whether they intend to pursue the death penalty. Farley argues that such information is “crucial to the preparation of the defense.”

State law requires such notification to a defendant in a capital case so he can have time to prepare for a penalty trial, according to the motion, which is set for a hearing in Ventura County Superior Court on Aug. 12.

Alvarez is set to be arraigned on the murder and attempted rape charges the same day. He was ordered to stand trial on those charges last week after a three-day preliminary hearing. The case is expected to go to trial this fall.

A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said Wednesday that prosecutors intend to discuss Alvarez’s case before announcing a decision on the death penalty.

State prosecutors took over the case at the request of Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury, who is a good friend of the defendant’s parents.

Authorities say Alvarez strangled Manley, a 14-year-old Nordhoff High School freshman, in the early morning hours of Dec. 20 after she left a girlfriend’s house with Alvarez and his friend, Robert Miears.

Miears told authorities that they stopped at a local convenience store to buy wine coolers before heading to Alvarez’s trailer. Manley and Alvarez went to a back bedroom and were gone in the morning, Miears told detectives.

Manley’s body was found a week later in the mountains above Ojai. She had been strangled, but the coroner could find no signs of sexual assault.

Defense attorneys said they plan to file a motion after the arraignment to dismiss the attempted rape charge and separate allegation for lack of evidence.

The most recent capital case prosecuted by the attorney general’s office was the trial of Charles Ng, who was convicted of murdering six men, three women and two infant boys in a killing spree in Northern California 14 years ago. Ng was sentenced to death in June.