Prosecutors Decide Not to Seek Death for Alvarez

The state attorney general’s office said Wednesday it will not seek the death penalty for murder suspect David Alvarez, who is accused of raping and strangling 14-year-old Kali Manley last December.

Instead, prosecutors will try to persuade a jury to send the 22-year-old Ojai resident to prison for life without the chance of parole.

After evaluating the evidence, the circumstances surrounding the crime, Alvarez’s criminal history, and the likelihood of success in court, state prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty, officials said.

“It was a very difficult decision to make,” said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for the attorney general’s office in Sacramento. “It was a decision based upon very careful consideration . . . of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the crime.”

Alvarez is charged with murdering and attempting to rape Manley, an Oak View resident. He also faces a special allegation that he strangled the girl during an attempted rape, which could have made him eligible for the death penalty.

Defense attorney James M. Farley filed a motion earlier this month asking a judge to force prosecutors to announce whether they intended to pursue the death penalty. Farley argued that such information was crucial to the preparation of Alvarez’s defense.

“This is not a victory for anybody,” Farley said. “I’m glad about it, but I’m not running around cheering from the rooftops.”

Farley said he received a call from the attorney general’s office with the news at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

“I didn’t ask for an explanation and they don’t usually give one,” Farley said, adding that he had not yet informed Alvarez about the prosecutors’ decision. “I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

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

Authorities say Alvarez killed Manley, a Nordhoff High School freshman, in the predawn hours of Dec. 20 after she left a girlfriend’s house with Alvarez and his friend, Robert Miears.

Miears told authorities that the three of them stopped at a convenience store to buy wine coolers before heading to a trailer in Ojai. There, Manley and Alvarez went into a back bedroom and were gone by morning, Miears told police.

Manley had been missing for about a week before her body was found in a drainpipe in the rugged hills above Ojai. Alvarez led authorities to the site.

Manley had been strangled, but although the coroner said he had detected signs of a struggle, he later testified he 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 for lack of evidence.

Alvarez is scheduled to be arraigned today in Ventura County Superior Court.