The gunman in one of Santa Barbara’s most notorious murders — the killing of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz — has had his death sentence commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Ryan James Hoyt was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of Markowitz, who was shot nine times and buried in a shallow grave near Lizard’s Mouth in the mountains above Santa Barbara on Aug. 9, 2000.

In a case that was made famous by the 2006 movie “Alpha Dog,” the Santa Barbara County Superior Court jury that convicted Hoyt in November 2001 subsequently recommended that he be executed for his crimes, and he was sentenced to death by Judge William Gordon.

Hoyt, now 44, remained on death row at San Quentin Prison for years while the appeal of his conviction and sentence wound its way through the judicial system, including in the appellate courts and the state Supreme Court.

In a lengthy habeas corpus petition, Hoyt’s attorneys made numerous arguments seeking to toss out the death-penalty sentence. On Jan. 12 of this year, Superior Court Judge Brian Hill granted Hoyt’s motion to vacate the sentence.

Hill indicated he was swayed by arguments that the performance of Hoyt’s inexperienced attorney, Cheri Owen, was deficient during the penalty phase of the trial, and that he was a “youthful offender” with “mental deficits” that made execution inappropriate.

DA’s Office Decides Not to Retry Penalty Phase

In the wake of Hill’s ruling, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office decided not to retry the death-penalty phase of the trial, Assistant District Attorney Kelly Duncan told Noozhawk.

In coming to that conclusion, she noted among other factors that there currently is a moratorium on capital punishment in California — ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019.

She added that death-penalty cases are extremely complicated and require a huge amount of resources to pursue.

Also presumably weighing on the decision is the fact that although prosecutors would not have to retry the guilt phase of the case, they would have the challenge of thoroughly informing the new jurors about the details of the kidnapping and murder.

During Hoyt’s trial, the same jury decided both phases — guilt and sentence.

Hoyt is now incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, according to online records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

He was among five people convicted of crimes stemming from the events that led to Markowitz’s death.

Jesse James Hollywood Was Mastermind of the Murder

The central figure was Jesse James Hollywood, now 44, a mid-level drug dealer who masterminded the plan to snatch the teen off a San Fernando Valley street to use him as leverage to collect a $1,200 debt owed to him by the boy’s half-brother, Ben Markowitz.

As the plot unfolded, Hollywood reportedly became alarmed — after consulting with a family attorney — about the possibility of going to prison for the kidnapping. He decided killing Markowitz was the answer to his fears.

Hollywood provided Hoyt with a handgun, and directed him to take the boy up into the mountains, kill him and bury him in exchange for forgiving Hoyt’s own financial debt to Hollywood.

After the murder was discovered and his accomplices were arrested, Hollywood fled, first to Canada, then to Brazil, where he lived under an assumed name for about five years.

He was arrested in Brazil in 2005 and the trial began in May 2009.

Hollywood is serving a sentence of life without possibility of parole at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, according to online prison records.

The others involved in the crime included:

• Jesse Rugge of Santa Barbara, who was 20 years old at the time, and was present when Markowitz was shot. He was convicted of kidnapping but acquitted of murder. Judge Gordon sentenced him in 2002 to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He was released in 2013 after serving 11 years.
• William Skidmore of Simi Valley, then 20, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and robbery. Gordon sentenced him to nine years in prison in 2002, and he was released on parole in 2008.
• Graham Pressley of Goleta was 17 at the time of the murder. At trial in 2002, he was found not guilty of kidnapping, with a mistrial declared on a murder charge because of a hung jury. In a second trial several months later, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder. Because of his age, he was sentenced to a juvenile facility, and he was released in 2007. He died of cancer in December 2022.

Reprieve From Death Penalty ‘Shocked’ Victim’s Mother

Susan Markowitz told Noozhawk she was “shocked” upon learning that her son’s killer had been granted a reprieve from the death penalty.

“I felt angry, and I’ve been trying throughout all these years to get rid of any anger I was harboring towards those involved in the murder of my only child, Nicholas,” Markowitz said. “The news brought back the emotions I felt the same day I found out Nicholas was murdered.

“After my anger subsided, I started to think about another mother losing a son and the pain that would cause. I didn’t want Hoyt’s mother to have to endure that same pain I have felt and will continue to feel for the rest of my life.

“Maybe the death penalty would have been an easy way out for Hoyt. He will now have to live in his own cage, and for the rest of his life think about how he so callously took away the innocent life of my 15-year-old son, Nicholas.”

Markowitz also expressed gratitude to the prosecution team — naming Ronald Zonen, Hans Almgren and Josh Lynn — who she believes “did an amazing job at delivering justice to those involved in Nicholas’ murder.”