Prosecution Due to Rest Case Against Merriman Today

After four weeks of testimony, Ventura County prosecutors are expected to rest their case this morning in the murder trial of Justin Merriman.

Defense attorneys plan to open their case today by calling the defendant’s 53-year-old mother, Beverlee Sue Merriman, who last year pleaded guilty to conspiring with her 28-year-old son to intimidate witnesses.

For the past month prosecutors have presented evidence they believe shows Merriman killed college student Katrina Montgomery in November 1992 to prevent her from reporting a sexual assault to police.

Prosecutors contend that Merriman, a Ventura skinhead gang member, forced two younger skinheads from Sylmar to dispose of Montgomery’s body.

But defense attorneys maintain there is no physical evidence linking their client to the slaying. They have suggested the Sylmar skinheads, Ryan Bush and Larry Nicassio, may be responsible.

On Tuesday defense attorney Willard Wiksell continued to cross-examine Bush about his involvement, citing inconsistent statements and details that diverge from Nicassio’s story.

Bush, 27, and Nicassio, 24, who are cousins, each testified they saw Merriman rape, stab and bludgeon Montgomery, 20, in a bedroom of his Ventura home after attending a party together in Oxnard.

Nicassio told jurors he also saw Merriman hold a knife to Montgomery’s throat and ask, “Where’s her jugular?”

But Bush said he couldn’t remember Merriman holding a knife to Montgomery’s throat.

Bush also testified Merriman had left the room for a moment before Montgomery was killed--a detail the defense seized upon to suggest the cousins are lying to shield themselves from murder charges.

Under Wiksell’s questioning, Bush admitted burying Montgomery’s body and concealing other evidence in the case.

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After noticing blood on his clothes, Bush said, he took money from Montgomery’s purse to buy new pants and shoes. He added that he later burned the purse and threw a duffel bag containing the murder weapons in a dumpster.

“Now, the only one left holding the bag is Mr. Merriman,” Wiksell remarked after the statement, drawing a quick objection from Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Bamieh.

The prosecutor asked only one question of Bush after cross-examination, inviting the witness, who has not been charged in connection with Montgomery’s slaying, to explain why he doesn’t feel like a free man.

“I can’t live the rest of my life,” he said, crying and sniffling from the witness stand as he described himself as a “monster” and a “coward.”

Testimony before Superior Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. could conclude by the end of the week.

If the jury finds Merriman guilty of murder with special circumstances, the trial would advance to a penalty phase in which the same jury would decide whether Merriman should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.