Merriman Stuns Court With Testimony, Nazi Salute

Giving a stiff-armed Nazi salute as he took the oath, convicted killer Justin Merriman unexpectedly testified at his penalty trial Thursday and denied murdering 20-year-old college student Katrina Montgomery.

Merriman, a skinhead gang member, stunned prosecutors and his own attorneys by demanding to take the stand just moments before they were scheduled to give closing arguments.

Against the advice of his lawyers, the lanky 28-year-old defendant told jurors--who last month found him guilty of first-degree murder and 18 related charges--their verdicts were wrong.

“You don’t know the whole picture of me,” Merriman said. “I am very innocent of these crimes.”

But Merriman refused to answer when questioned by Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Bamieh and tried to step down from the witness stand when confronted on how he raped and killed Montgomery eight years ago.

“I refuse to answer any questions,” he said, adding later: “I didn’t kill Katrina Montgomery.”

Earlier, Merriman stunned observers when he raised his arm in a Nazi salute while taking the oath. He then read from a hand-written statement and lashed out at nearly everyone involved in his case.

He blamed his lawyers for his conviction, saying he was shocked when attorney Willard Wiksell argued Merriman was guilty of the lesser crime of second-degree murder.

He criticized Superior Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. for refusing to grant a new trial. And he accused investigators of doctoring tape-recorded evidence to convict him of the Santa Monica College student’s death.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution and the press have made me out to be a cold-blooded murderer,” he said, reading from his notes. “I speak the truth when I claim my innocence.”

Merriman testified for about 10 minutes and was excused after refusing to answer Bamieh’s questions. Outside the presence of the jury, O’Neill asked whether the prosecution wanted the testimony stricken because the witness would not participate in cross-examination.

But Bamieh said he wanted the jury to consider it. A few minutes later, he launched into his closing summation and cited Merriman’s demeanor on the stand as evidence on why he should receive the death penalty.

“You saw no remorse,” Bamieh argued. “You saw a coward, a complete coward.”

As he spoke, Merriman, dressed in gray pants and a light-colored dress shirt, rocked in his chair at the defense table and showed no reaction.

Bamieh told jurors Merriman minimizes his criminal conduct by blaming others.

“He is disgusting and he does not deserve your sympathy,” the prosecutor said.

Merriman was found guilty of murder, rape, conspiracy and witness intimidation last month after a nearly two-month trial in Ventura County Superior Court.

Jurors found that in November 1992 the defendant raped Montgomery--a Los Angeles resident and waitress at Jerry’s Famous Deli--in a bedroom of a condominium belonging to Merriman’s mother.

Montgomery had driven to Merriman’s home after attending a party in Oxnard. According to two San Fernando Valley skinheads who spent the night there, Merriman raped Montgomery, then stabbed her, beat her with a wrench and slit her throat to prevent her from reporting the assault to police.

The skinheads testified they were too scared to intervene and admitted burying Montgomery’s body and destroying other evidence.

Because Merriman was found guilty of murder committed during a rape, the trial advanced to a penalty phase in which the jury will decide whether he will be sentenced to death or life in prison without possibility of parole.

On Thursday, Wiksell argued his client suffers from severe psychological problems and a congenital brain defect that causes him to act impulsively and often violently.

Wiksell cited his client’s unexpected testimony as an example.

“Doesn’t that show you a window into his thinking?” he asked.

Twice, Merriman interrupted Wiksell’s closing argument by raising verbal objections. O’Neill instructed the defendant to be quiet.

“It is certainly clear he is mentally ill,” Wiksell said at one point, urging jurors to impose a sentence of life in prison without parole--not death.

“This isn’t about revenge,” he said. “Despite everything he’s been convicted of, despite everything you know of him, tell him to die in jail. Justice is not justice without mercy.”

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations this morning.