Judge Upholds Life Sentence for Jesse James Hollywood

The defense's motion for a new trial is denied in the kidnap-murder of Nicholas Markowitz

Jesse James Hollywood confers with attorneys James Blatt and Alex Kessel during Friday's sentencing
Jesse James Hollywood, center, confers with attorneys James Blatt and Alex Kessel during Friday’s sentencing. (John Conroy photo / www.johnconroyimages.com)

By | Published on 02.05.2010

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Jesse James Hollywood was formally sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole after Judge Brian Hill denied the defense’s motion for a new trial.

Hollywood was convicted last year in the August 2000 kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz, and on Friday, Hill upheld the jury’s sentence.

The defense requested a new trial on several grounds, with the most hotly debated being alleged juror misconduct.

A change of venue was denied for the highly publicized case, the inspiration for the 2006 film Alpha Dog, and two evidentiary hearings were held around the time of the trial to explore the possibility of juror misconduct.

Juror No. 5 allegedly made crass jokes and comments that could have been construed as prejudicial during the trial, and defense attorneys James Blatt and Alex Kessel said she was a biased juror with an agenda.

Hill said that while there may have been misconduct, none of it rose to the level of prejudice.

“This is a human endeavor,” he said. “We are not robots. There are going to be mistakes.”

Blatt and Kessel also took issue with the testimony of Graham Pressley, the man who dug Markowitz’s grave and testified in both his own trial and Hollywood’s.

Pressley was called out for lying during his trial, yet similar testimony was allowed when he was a witness in Hollywood’s trial, Blatt said.

Hill said the testimonies were consistent with each other, and there was full disclosure to the jury.

Susan Markowitz, mother of kidnap-murder victim Nicholas Markowitz, attends Friday's sentencing for Jesse James Hollywood
Susan Markowitz, mother of kidnap-murder victim Nicholas Markowitz, attended Friday’s sentencing for Jesse James Hollywood. (John Conroy photo / www.johnconroyimages.com)

Santa Barbara County Acting District Attorney Josh Lynn said Pressley was “impeached six ways to Sunday,” and the information given as a witness was not the information questioned as untruthful.

Blatt called it fundamentally unfair for prosecutors to call testimony perjury in one trial and then use the same testimony in another trial and call it truth.

The defense also argued that the kidnapping was not continuous, but Hill said there was substantial evidence of Markowitz’s continued confinement.

Before Hill sentenced Hollywood on Friday, Lynn asked permission for the Markowitz family members to speak, but he was denied. Kessel said the family had their chance to speak at the penalty hearing, and Hill ruled that it wouldn’t serve any purpose to the court.

Lynn was surprised, saying he had rarely heard of a victim’s family members being denied the chance to speak at a sentencing.

Prosecutors said 29-year-old Hollywood was the mastermind of the kidnapping nine years ago. Markowitz was taken near his West Hills home, allegedly in retaliation for a $1,200 drug debt his brother owed to Hollywood. The teen was driven to Santa Barbara, where he was held for several days before being taken up to the Lizard’s Mouth trail off West Camino Cielo and shot to death by Ryan Hoyt. Hoyt was convicted and sentenced to the death.

Hollywood testified that he didn’t know what Hoyt was going to do.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department has been involved in the case for almost a decade, from the investigation to searching for and arresting Hollywood in Brazil in 2005. Hollywood’s been housed in the County Jail since then, but will likely be transferred to prison before the appeal, Sheriff Bill Brown said.

Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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» on 02.05.10 @ 10:53 PM

Why Hoyt would have obeyed an order to murder without compensation has me thinking Hollywood’s direction to hit was vague, highly casual, if at all. Local papers did a poor job mentioning that nothing depended on deceased being killed.

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» on 02.06.10 @ 08:06 AM

you’ve missed the point Matt….....Hollywoods reach was so great that these guys- after seeing with their own eyes that he had Markowitz kidnapped—-believed they could be next on his hit list if they did not comply

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» on 02.06.10 @ 10:54 AM

Ummm, how about Nicholas?  Only the death penalty would have been fitting for this major criminal.  Think of that poor young man, no longer breathing, no longer there with his family, no longer looking forward to having a family of his own, no longer here with us.  Think of his mother and father, both will grieve until their own last breaths in this lifetime.  This monster should be put to death, as he is an evil control freak.  Letting him rot in jail is good, but not enough punishment for what his twisted mind powered his worthless followers to do.

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» on 02.06.10 @ 02:36 PM

FINALLY SENTENCED ~ THANK YOU : 2/6/2010

My son Nicholas Samuel Markowitz is dead because of Jesse James Hollywood. Jesse had him murdered to cover up his own crimes and stay out of prison. And worse he had someone else do the dirty work then took off to let him take the consequences. Little did I know that as I was paging my missing fifteen year old son, he was on his way to his execution.
I died that Monday morning when the crew of detectives came at 6 am to tell us that they had found our missing son. The look in their eyes said it all, but it was their job to deliver the news verbally. Their words were, “Hikers had found Nick’s duct taped, bullet riddled body in a shallow grave”.
It was that moment that I shut down and went into denial. I stayed busy getting pictures of Nick and allowing them to search the house for something, anything to make sense of Nick’s execution. I would start to cry and then stop myself. This wasn’t real, things like this happen to others.
The first six and a half years, after hearing of my son’s murder I wanted to die, and almost succeeded several times. I would mix alcohol and pills to the point where I had to have my stomach pumped. Thirteen times, I ended up in the hospital because of suicide attempts and depression. I hung on solely because I wanted to make sure there would be justice for Nick. He deserved this, and so much more. It was the least I could do, but I didn’t realize it would take so long.
For five years, while Jesse was one of Americas Most Wanted, I drove with Wanted poster billboards on my car. When I was not looking for Jesse Hollywood , I went to every trial and parole hearing for the other selfish cowards involved. I traveled as far as Canada. I believe that Hollywood may have taken the ferry that I was on in Canada shortly before me. I left thousands of Wanted posters and key chains everywhere I went, and it didn’t frighten me to think we might bump into each other one day. I knew I was not capable of committing murder for revenge as he had done. I also knew I would not lower myself to the embarrassing level of immaturity and callousness that his family had, such as when Hollywood’s own mother stuck her tongue out at me, flipped me off and screamed profanities.
When I visit the site where Nick was killed, I lay in the make-shift grave where Nick’s “Ruby” red blood drained from his beautiful body. I try to imagine the fear he must have felt in those final moments. His arms and face bound with duct tape, seeing a gun and a grave, he knew he was not going home…ever. Jesse James Hollywood should have been charged with two murders-mine as well as my son’s.
My son, Nicholas Samuel Markowitz, would have been twenty-five on September 19, 2009. These past nine years have been filled with thoughts of who he’d be today. Would he be in the film industry, a psychiatrist, or still working with his dad? My heart still skips when I see a teenager with a backpack and grocery stores still have me wanting to cry over his favorite foods. I wonder of his size fourteen shoes and height of six-foot, would he ever have stopped growing? And it tears at my heart to wonder what he would have named his babies.
I am stuck in the past; but I allow myself to think of the future. The long drawn out court proceedings have somewhat been a blessing in disguise because it gave me a reason to stay alive-I felt I needed to stay alive long enough to see each of my son’s kidnappers and killers brought to justice.
What it comes down to for me is that my son was murdered, for no good reason, because this man didn’t feel like dealing with any consequences. My son was tricked into thinking he was safe and would be going home. Instead, he was marched up a mountain and shot. Later, Hollywood was out partying with his friends as usual. As soon as my son’s body was found, Hollywood skipped the country. While I was in a mental hospital struggling to find a reason to live, this man was living it up on the beach in Rio.
I hang onto believing in this justice system of ours, that it can see the truth behind the eyes of what may appear to be another human being. Years of watching the defendants squirm made me feel I was in the right place. Watching Jesse Hollywood drink his “Smart Water” and eat an apricot as the juice drooled down his chin immediately after seeing a picture of my son’s skull with a bullet hole in it confirmed he is Americas Most despicable.
When it comes to justice, it should not enter into the equation of how much money you have, or the attorney you hire to make a wrong into a confusing right. The Consequences of our actions are sitting in our prison system, one in particular-Jesse Hollywood, bragging about the system using presidential caravans and all their expensive toys on him.
I am very thankful that the jury in this case was able to see through the nasty tactics meant to confuse them and allow Hollywood to get away with murder. It was not until this trial that I witnessed such heartless attacks and actions directed to the victim and his family.
I now ask for an appropriate sentence to put an end to this very long quest for justice. My son was stolen from all the people who loved him, and we are irreparably broken. But despite the terrible picture the defense team attempted to paint, we are together. We are grieving and we are aching, but we are all doing our best to honor Nick, and we love each other. I wish Nick could have known his nieces and nephews, and been the best man at his best friend’s wedding. I wish for things every day that will never come true because my son was stolen from me.
I hope it is not forgotten that this would never have happened were it not for the orders of Jesse James Hollywood.
Nine years later I still wake up every morning with a gut wrenching emptiness. But I must continue to be strong and share the story about MY STOLEN SON and encourage people to think of the Consequences before making a Choice.
Nick I promise you will never be forgotten~
Nick deserves justice and as the voice of my son I am asking the courts to sentence Jesse James Hollywood to the maximum extent of the law.
Nick’s Mom,
Susan Markowitz
5-5-2010
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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» on 02.06.10 @ 02:39 PM

Hoyt had a drug debt to Hollywood also.  His debt was wiped clear only after he completed the task gived to him.  Unfortunately that was taking the life of young Nickolas.  This has been in the paper for years, and as a friend of the Markowitz family, I think people need to do their homework if they really want to know the story.  I do not think the papers did a poor job.  They have helped keep the vigil going throughout this inhumane situation.

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» on 02.08.10 @ 08:04 PM

Jesse is exactly where he belongs!!!!!

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» on 02.09.10 @ 11:03 PM

Wow!! What a powerfull story by Mrs.Markowitz.

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» on 02.26.10 @ 07:43 PM

I can not imagine the pain that Mrs. Markowitz has had to endure.  We have a son almost the exact same age as Nick.  It is impossible to comprehend how someone could take a life like that.  I am dumbfounded by the lack of action taken by any of those who could have intervened to help Nick out of the situation.  How could so many loosers find each other?  It is a sad commentary on the condition of our fallen world.

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