Naposki sentencing delayed until next year

Sentencing for a man convicted in the 1994 killing of a wealthy Newport Beach businessman was delayed until next year, officials announced Friday in a Santa Ana courtroom .

Eric Naposki, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder in July in connection with the death of Bill McLaughlin.

Prosecutors said McLaughlin was killed so Naposki and his then-girlfriend, Nanette Packard, could live rent-free in McLaughlin’s beachfront home and collect his $1 million life insurance money.

Naposki is a former linebacker for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, but went “beyond broke” and was working as a bouncer at the Thunderbird Nightclub — 131 yards away from McLaughlin’s home — at the time of the murder, prosecutors said in their opening statements in June.

At the time of his arrest in 2009, Naposki was living in Connecticut, where he was extradited.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Packard is set to go to trial Nov. 4 in connection to the slaying. She is charged with murder for financial gain and also faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

—Lauren Williams

Twitter: @lawilliams30