Lawyers try to block murder case movie

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Everybody wants to get into the movies, apparently including the California district attorney prosecuting alleged killer Jesse James Hollywood.

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the defense doesn't want the movie, "Alpha Dog," released before next summer's trial ends.

However, Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Ronald Zonen in 2003 turned over a virtual "treasure trove of confidential materials" to producers of the film, which is based on the Nicholas Markowitz kidnapping and murder case, the Times said.

Hollywood, the suspect in the Markowitz case, has since been captured in Brazil and returned for trial.

The defense wasn't happy about the district attorney's moves -- court papers say he was insisting that he be played in the movie by a "handsome actor." They successfully argued that the prosecutor's cooperation with filmmakers had compromised the defendant's right to a fair trial, and Zonen has been taken off the case.

Defense attorneys will now try and block Universal Studies from distributing "Alpha Dog," a fictional account of the shooting death.

The Times said legal pundits think derailing the release of "Alpha Dog" was unlikely since courts have refused to block pretrial movies about the murder cases of O.J. Simpson and the notorious Menendez brothers.