LOS ANGELES -- The murder trial of porn star John Holmes, charged with the brutal beating deaths of four people in a Laurel Canyon home last summer, was delayed today because of a crowded court calendar and undecided motions.
Superior Court Judge David Cunningham granted the one-day continuance, the second delay in the long-running case. The prosecution and defense had requested a continuance April 2, when the trial was originally scheduled to begin, to discuss a possible plea bargain, but apparently failed to reach agreement.
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The prosecution and defense had requested a continuance April 2, when the trial was originally scheduled to begin, to discuss a possible plea bargain, but apparently failed to reach agreement.
'As far as we're concerned,' Deputy District Attorney Ron Coen said today, 'we're going to trial.' Before a jury is selected, the judge is expected to rule on a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Holmes on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
Prosecutors linked Holmes to the brutal clubbing deaths last summer of Ronald Launius, William Deverell, Joy Audrey Miller, and Barbara Lee Richardson and the attempted murder of Susan Launius after finding his palm print near the scene.
Holmes, 37, arrested last December in Florida, allegedly told police he had no part in actual slayings, and was forced at gunpoint to lead the killers to the house in Laurel Canyon.
Police say the murders were committed in retaliation for a robbery two days earlier in which nightclub owner Adel 'Eddie Nash' Nasrallah, of Studio City and his bodyguard Gregory Diles, 33, were robbed of cash, drugs, and guns by a group that included Holmes and at least two of the murder victims.
Nasrallah, who faces a series of drug and assault charges and is under investigation in an arson-for-hire ring, hasn't been charged with the killings, although his attorney, the judge and the police admit that he and the 300-pound Diles are suspects.
