Sentencing in Teenager’s Slaying Is Postponed
The sentencing of a Ventura woman convicted of murder for participating in the 1998 slaying of a teenage girl has been delayed to allow defense attorneys time to prepare a motion for a new trial.
Bridget Callahan, 30, fired her former attorney this week, days before her scheduled sentencing. She is facing a life prison term.
Superior Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. agreed to postpone the hearing to Feb. 13 to allow defense lawyers James Farley and Kay Duffy time to review trial transcripts and prepare a new trial motion. Farley and Duffy called her pending life sentence draconian.
The postponement frustrated the relatives of 17-year-old Nichole Hendrix of Ventura, who was stabbed to death four years ago, allegedly at the hands of two of Callahan’s cohorts, Michael Bridgeford and David Ziesmer. They are awaiting trial on separate murder charges.
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