Jailed Merriman Tried to Silence Witnesses, Jury Told

Within days of being indicted on murder charges, skinhead gang member Justin Merriman began working from behind bars to silence informants whose cooperation with police led to his arrest two years ago, witnesses testified Tuesday.

A former Ventura Avenue gang member told jurors that while jailed next to Merriman in early 1999, the defendant slipped him copies of grand jury transcripts that identified key witnesses in the case.

“He asked me to pass the word around,” said ex-convict John Hernandez, whose gang was not associated with Merriman’s skinhead group.

Prosecutors also admitted as evidence a series of letters that Merriman, 28, sent to skinheads in state prison after his January 1999 indictment.

The letters, which were intercepted by authorities, named three witnesses who worked as police informants in the investigation of the killing of college student Katrina Montgomery.

Merriman said two of the witnesses, who were in custody at the time, wore wires to obtain statements against him.

Among prison gangs, there is no worse crime.

“Being identified as an informant is about the worst thing that can happen to you in the state prison system,” said Wesley Harris, a gang investigator for the California Department of Corrections.

If investigators hadn’t flagged the letter, Harris said, the information could have spread statewide in two or three months and led to violent attacks on those witnesses.

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Merriman is charged with murder, rape and related charges for allegedly slitting Montgomery’s throat after a sexual assault at his Ventura home in November 1992. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

For the past three weeks, prosecutors have presented evidence of the events leading up to the alleged slaying and a gang cover-up they contend Merriman orchestrated to shield himself from arrest.

Merriman also faces charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy to dissuade witnesses by force. Prosecutors started focusing on those charges Tuesday.

Harris became concerned about Merriman’s Ventura-based white-power gang a few years ago, he testified, when its incarcerated members starting mimicking established prison gangs.

Although the Ventura skinheads have only had between 10 and 20 members in prison at any time, Harris said, they have a reputation as a violent group responsible for slashings and beatings of other inmates.

Some members have ties to larger white-power prison gangs as well, he said, and have recently begun recruiting members from neighboring counties.

Inmates also don’t want to testify against other gang members, Harris testified, something that became clear in Ventura County Superior Court on Tuesday.

Before the noon recess, prosecutors called as a witness Harlan Romines, a former Ventura resident and member of a Nazi prison gang who is serving a lengthy prison term for beating a black man with a pool cue at a Main Street bar four years ago.

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Outside the jury’s presence, Romines, a broad-shouldered skinhead whose thick mustache hangs below his chin, shuffled to the witness stand in leg chains and jail blues. When asked to take the oath, he refused.

“I have nothing to contribute to this case,” he said.

Prosecutors disagree.

One of the letters intercepted by authorities was addressed to Romines. And witness Larry Nicassio--who says he saw Merriman kill Montgomery--told jurors Monday that Romines threatened to kill him for cooperating with police.

Because of the alleged threat, Judge Vincent J. O’Neill had a lawyer talk to Romines on Tuesday about his 5th Amendment rights. Prosecutors also promised immunity, but Romines wouldn’t budge.

Called to the witness stand later in the day, with the jury present, Romines again refused to answer questions and O’Neill held him in contempt of court.

Testimony is scheduled to resume today.