Judge Halts All Jail Communications for Murder Defendant

A Superior Court judge Friday ordered all jailhouse communications permanently cut off for murder suspect Justin Merriman, ruling the safety of witnesses outweighed the defendant’s right to talk to anyone but his attorneys while in custody.

For nearly four months, Ventura County prosecutors have sought severe restrictions on Merriman’s ability to contact friends and relatives after finding evidence of an “aggressive witness intimidation campaign.”

Merriman, who is facing a murder charge in the 1992 slaying of Santa Monica City College student Katrina Montgomery, was indicted in May on conspiracy charges for allegedly tapping a network of fellow skinhead gang members to threaten witnesses in his case.

Two women have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and admitted recruiting gang members to “take out” witnesses whose testimony led to Merriman’s indictment on a murder charge.

The 26-year-old defendant’s mother, Beverlee Sue Merriman, has also been indicted for allegedly circulating witness names to her son’s white supremacist friends, many of whom are in state prison.

During Friday’s hearing, prosecutors told Superior Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. that despite an existing order limiting Merriman’s communications, the defendant has continued to scheme ways to harm witnesses during visits and phone calls with his mother.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Bamieh said authorities have videotaped the defendant’s last five visits with his mother at the county’s main jail in Ventura.

Bamieh said the tapes show new criminal activity between the pair, and bolster his contention that tighter restrictions on Merriman’s jail communications--including no visits, no phone calls and strictly monitored mail--are necessary.

“They find ways to communicate,” Bamieh argued. “I believe it is a necessity for our witnesses that Sue Merriman of all people not be allowed contact with the defendant.”

But defense attorney Willard Wiksell objected to the proposed order, and demanded the prosecution prove its claims by calling witnesses to testify in court.

“This is a sham as far as a hearing goes,” he said. “Where is the evidence?”

But O’Neill ruled the evidence before him--namely the co-conspirator’s guilty pleas, transcripts from grand jury proceedings and other documents--provide sufficient evidence to support the order.

“In this case,” O’Neill said, “the lives of several people have been put in jeopardy by Mr. Merriman’s actions.”

O’Neill ordered that Merriman no longer have contact with his mother while in custody. He stripped the defendant of any nonlawyer jail visits or phone calls. And his incoming and outgoing mail will be read by authorities.

Before the hearing, prosecutors filed a motion that included a series of letters sent by Merriman, his co-conspirators and skinhead gang members who were allegedly solicited to harm witnesses in the case.

The letters, some of which were marked with a Nazi swastika, included references about eliminating Lawrence Nicassio, a chief prosecution witness.

“He’s locked up, so someone’s got to get him from in there,” one letter from a gang member states. Another document described a confrontation between a white supremacist and Nicassio while both were awaiting appearances in Superior Court.

In that incident, the gang member tells Nicassio directly that the Nazi Low Rider prison gang has a “green light” to kill him because of his testimony in Merriman’s case.

Nicassio, a former San Fernando Valley skinhead, told the grand jury he watched Merriman rape, stab and bludgeon Montgomery before cutting her throat. He testified he was too scared to intervene and later helped Merriman bury the body in a remote area near Sylmar.