Post by CCADP on Apr 16, 2006 14:45:55 GMT -5
Not-guilty pleas by pair in killing of CHP officer.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 The Sacramento Bee
Byline: Crystal Carreon
Apr. 13--Two men charged in the November shooting death of a CHP officer pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Yolo County Superior Court, after five months of postponing the legal formality. Brendt Volarvich, 20, and Gregory Zielesch, 48, appeared separately before Judge Stephen L. Mock, but county District Attorney Dave Henderson said he planned to prosecute the men together on murder and conspiracy charges for California Highway Patrol Officer Andy Stevens' death. Stevens, 37, was shot to death Nov. 17 during a traffic stop outside Woodland.
Henderson told the court he will seek the death penalty for Volarvich, the suspected gunman who also has been charged with special circumstances, including killing an officer in the line of duty, killing for financial gain and fatally shooting someone from a vehicle. Earlier this year, a grand jury indicted Volarvich and Zielesch on charges related to their alleged roles in Stevens' death, but it dropped the special circumstances additionally leveled against Zielesch after his arrest.
A third defendant, Lindsey Montgomery, 21, pleaded no contest in January to charges of being an accomplice after the fact. She has been sentenced to eight months in a residential drug program and five months' probation. Montgomery, who was arrested with Volarvich a day after Stevens was killed, testified at the grand jury hearing that Volarvich told her he "did something bad." Authorities allege Volarvich shot Stevens with a gun provided to him by Zielesch as part of an unrelated plot to kill a man who was seeing Zielesch's ex-wife. A gag order remained in effect Wednesday, barring Volarvich's Sacramento attorney, Kevin Clymo; Zielesch's attorney, Stephen Naratil, of Los Angeles; and others involved with the case from speaking with the media. Outside the courtroom, Zielesch's mother, Evelyn, continued to defend her son. "He's not this bad person that he's portrayed to be," she said before the hearing. The judge tentatively scheduled the trial to begin June 13.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 The Sacramento Bee
Byline: Crystal Carreon
Apr. 13--Two men charged in the November shooting death of a CHP officer pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Yolo County Superior Court, after five months of postponing the legal formality. Brendt Volarvich, 20, and Gregory Zielesch, 48, appeared separately before Judge Stephen L. Mock, but county District Attorney Dave Henderson said he planned to prosecute the men together on murder and conspiracy charges for California Highway Patrol Officer Andy Stevens' death. Stevens, 37, was shot to death Nov. 17 during a traffic stop outside Woodland.
Henderson told the court he will seek the death penalty for Volarvich, the suspected gunman who also has been charged with special circumstances, including killing an officer in the line of duty, killing for financial gain and fatally shooting someone from a vehicle. Earlier this year, a grand jury indicted Volarvich and Zielesch on charges related to their alleged roles in Stevens' death, but it dropped the special circumstances additionally leveled against Zielesch after his arrest.
A third defendant, Lindsey Montgomery, 21, pleaded no contest in January to charges of being an accomplice after the fact. She has been sentenced to eight months in a residential drug program and five months' probation. Montgomery, who was arrested with Volarvich a day after Stevens was killed, testified at the grand jury hearing that Volarvich told her he "did something bad." Authorities allege Volarvich shot Stevens with a gun provided to him by Zielesch as part of an unrelated plot to kill a man who was seeing Zielesch's ex-wife. A gag order remained in effect Wednesday, barring Volarvich's Sacramento attorney, Kevin Clymo; Zielesch's attorney, Stephen Naratil, of Los Angeles; and others involved with the case from speaking with the media. Outside the courtroom, Zielesch's mother, Evelyn, continued to defend her son. "He's not this bad person that he's portrayed to be," she said before the hearing. The judge tentatively scheduled the trial to begin June 13.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.