Jesse James Hollywood
Jesse James Hollywood Guilty Of First-Degree Murder & Kidnapping. Jesse James Hollywood was convicted Wednesday of the kidnap and murder of a 15-year-old boy that inspired the 2007 movie “Alpha Dog.”
A Santa Barbara jury has found Jesse James Hollywood guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping for ordering the killing of Nicholas Markowitz. The story of Jesse James Hollywod is what the movie “Alpha Dog” was based upon.
After deliberating about four days, a Santa Barbara Superior Court jury also found Hollywood, 29, guilty of the special circumstance allegation of being involved in a crime in which an assault weapon or machine gun was used, making him eligible for the death penalty.
Hollywood stared straight ahead as the verdict was read. “I can’t believe they found him guilty of that murder,” his father, Jack Hollywood, said outside the courtroom.
The victim’s parents said they were relieved but declined to comment further because of a gag order issued in the case. The penalty phase of the case was scheduled to begin Monday.
Markowitz was beaten up, forced into a van near his home and driven to Santa Barbara by Hollywood and a couple of his friends. Prosecutors said the aim was to hold Markowitz until his older half-brother Ben made good on a $1,200 drug debt to Hollywood, an admitted marijuana dealer.
Defense attorneys said Markowitz was free to go shortly after the group arrived in Santa Barbara and that a Hollywood friend named Ryan Hoyt opted to kill the boy to win the defendant’s approval. On July 1, prosecutor Joshua Lynn repeated his description of Hoyt as a lackey who would do anything, including commit murder, for the more popular Hollywood.
Hollywood said he was afraid after Ben Markowitz left threatening messages, poisoned his dog and broke a window at his home, only hours before Nicholas was abducted. Hollywood called the taking of Nicholas irrational and not well-thought out.
Hollywood said Ryan Hoyt, the gunman who was convicted and sentenced to death, acted on his own because of concern about Ben Markowitz finding out about the abduction. Hollywood also said the gun used to kill Nicholas was once his but that he gave it to Hoyt months before the murder.
Prosecutors did not call Hoyt as a witness, the one person who could definitely say if Hollywood ordered the slaying. Also left out of Hollywood’s trial were Jesse Rugge and William Skidmore, two others convicted in the case.
“What would not elevate his status would be to do it against Hollywood’s orders,” Defense attorneys said. Hoyt has been sentenced to death. Graham Pressley, who dug Nicholas’ grave in the Santa Barbara foothills, was sentenced as a juvenile and has been released.
In his testimony, Pressley said another accomplice, Jesse Rugge, contended that Hollywood had offered him $2,000 to kill the boy, which he refused. Rugge was acquitted of murder but given a life sentence for aggravated kidnapping.
Nicolas Markowitz was held for a few days but Jesse James Hollywood was afraid he’d face charges of kidnapping so took the boy to a park where he shot and buried the 15 year-old. Hollywood wasn’t at the scene but had his orders carried out.
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