D.A. Seeks to Halt Calls, Visitation for Alleged Killer

County prosecutors pleaded with a judge Wednesday to temporarily cut off all visitation and phone privileges for a Ventura man accused of murder and rape who they say has been trying to threaten witnesses from jail.

“The people are not asking you to punish the defendant,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Bamieh argued. “We are asking you to prevent the defendant from hurting or even killing people in the next few days.”

The court hearing was called after Bamieh filed a lengthy motion requesting all communications, except with his lawyer, be cut off for 26-year-old Justin James Merriman of Ventura, a skinhead gang member who the prosecutor says has attempted to threaten victims and witnesses in his case.

But defense attorney William Maxwell countered that he has not had time to prepare a response, and needs to consult with co-counsel Willard Wiksell before proceeding. He told Ventura County Superior Court Judge Donald Coleman that he was not sure the prosecutor’s request was even legal.

Maxwell said that by law, his client has a right to make phone calls and receive weekly visitors. He said Merriman should not lose those rights without a full briefing involving his lawyers, and Wiksell is now wrapped up in a two-week trial.

But Bamieh countered with concerns for witness safety. “Those can be very dangerous phone calls and visits,” he said.

Coleman agreed that Maxwell and Wiksell need more time to respond to the prosecution’s allegations, which were made after they executed up to eight search warrants at the jail to read the defendant’s mail. But the judge also acknowledged that the situation appeared serious and urgent.

As a form of compromise, the judge issued a two-day order prohibiting Merriman from calling anyone other than his lawyers or defense investigators. But he would not ban the defendant from seeing jail visitors, specifically his mother, Sue.

Bamieh told the judge that prosecutors suspect Sue Merriman may be involved in the alleged witness intimidation. But Coleman was not swayed.

He ordered the lawyers back in court Friday, when they are expected to agree on a hearing date for the prosecutor’s motion.

Outside the courtroom Wednesday, Bamieh declined to comment on his motion or the information obtained by investigators who were involved in screening Merriman’s mail. He confirmed that charges of witness intimidation have not been filed against Merriman, but said the investigation is ongoing.

“We are aggressively doing everything in our power to protect these witnesses,” he said.

In January, Merriman was indicted by the Ventura County Grand Jury on charges that include murder, rape, forced oral copulation and resisting arrest.

The crimes, 25 in all, allegedly were committed over more than six years, beginning with the 1992 slaying of Trina Montgomery, a Santa Monica College student whose disappearance stumped investigators for years.

Ventura County prosecutors began pursuing the murder case again in 1997, and the investigation led them to three suspects, including Merriman, who were all members of skinhead gangs.

According to testimony presented to the grand jury, Merriman knew Montgomery from mutual friends at Ventura High School and corresponded with her while in prison in 1992. That fall, the two met at a party thrown by friends in Oxnard.

After the party, Montgomery went to Merriman’s house, where two of his friends were also spending the night.

According to one of the friends, who was pretending to be asleep on the floor of Merriman’s bedroom, the suspect raped Montgomery and forced her to perform various sex acts.

When he was through, the witness said, Merriman stabbed her in the neck, beat her with a crescent wrench and slit her throat. He then allegedly forced his friends to help him get rid of the body, which they buried at Sunset Farms near Sylmar.

In the years after the slaying, witnesses told the grand jury, Merriman made repeated threats to those with information about the crime. Other women he allegedly raped also told the grand jury about their experiences.

Merriman has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His trial is set for January.