Wednesday, March 05, 2003

MCGHEE ARRAIGNED.
As we predicted, Timothy McGhee was arraigned on Monday, so apparently the LAPD's support of the deal persuaded the DA. See the previous postings for details. Lo and behold, the prosecutor in this case turns out to be DDA Anthony Manzella. You court watchers no doubt remember that Manzella successfully prosecuted Samuel Shabazz in the Lori Gonzalez murder case (she was Bernard Parks' granddaughter). In that case he ran 41 witnesses through in just 2 days of testimony and got a conviction. Manzella was also the prosecutor in the Santa Monica German tourist homicide. He got a conviction in that case as well. In fact, we can't remember a case in recent history that Manzella lost. We'll have to look deeper into this.

McGhee was charged with just one count murder, that of Margie Mendoza. No doubt as the case develops, new charges will be filed. From his previous outings, we know that Manzella is nothing if not a bulldog. The Mendoza count will just be the tip of the iceberg. Look for further filings.

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