E-bullion: 2 Ordered Without Bail In Slaying Of Businessman's Estranged Wife |
| Date Added: September 17, 2008 02:02:24 PM |
LOS ANGELES -- The estranged husband of a woman stabbed to death in a Century City parking garage in July and one of his employees were ordered Tuesday to remain jailed without bail while awaiting arraignment on murder and conspiracy charges. Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Henry J. Hall ordered James M. Fayed, 45, of Moorpark, and his employee, Jose Luis Moya, 47, to return to the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Oct. 8 for arraignment in connection with the July 28 slaying of Pamela Fayed. Fayed's attorney, Mark Werksman, told reporters outside court that his client will plead not guilty, KNBC's Gordon Tokumatsu reported. "Let me say that this is a double tragedy for Mr. Fayed. Not only was his wife brutally murdered, but now he's being charged with her murder and will sit in county jail until this case is resolved," the defense lawyer said. "Mr. Fayed absolutely denies that he had anything to do with the murder of his wife, and he looks forward to an opportunity to prove his innocence in court, where we will finally have an opportunity to see and hear the evidence that the district attorney claims to have marshaled against him," Werksman told reporters. Werksman said his client is "dumbstruck by these allegations, and I don't think he has any idea who killed Pamela Fayed." He called the case against Fayed "purely circumstantial" and said it involves "a number of either coincidences or facts which will have an innocent explanation." Part of the prosecution's case is based on "statements that were obtained by a jailhouse informant, which is the most contemptible and unbelievable form of evidence that the prosecution could possibly marshal," Werksman said. "As you know, it's the policy of the D.A.'s Office not to discuss the evidence until it's actually testified to in court, which it will be. We do feel that we have a very solid case here," Sandi Gibbons of the District Attorney's Office told reporters outside court. She noted that "circumstantial evidence has the same weight as direct evidence, and the jury is told that." In a criminal complaint filed Monday, the prosecution contended that Fayed paid Moya about $25,000 between Jan. 1 and July 28 "to arrange the murder of Pamela Fayed." The criminal complaint also alleged that a Suzuki sport utility vehicle was rented by James Fayed and his company, Goldfinger Inc., on July 3, and that the SUV was driven 25 days later to the Watt Tower parking garage in Century City, where Pamela Fayed was killed, by a person who then "entered Fayed's rented Suzuki sport utility vehicle." The criminal complaint filed by the District Attorney's Office alleges that the SUV seen at the murder scene was driven by "persons" to James Fayed's ranch in Ventura County, and returned the following day by Moya to the rental car company. Fayed's attorney said "the mere fact of Mr. Fayed's company renting a car for use by its employees in and of itself does not bear on Mr. Fayed's guilt or innocence with regard to the murder of Mrs. Fayed." The murder charges against the men include the special circumstance allegations that Fayed's 44-year-old estranged wife was killed July 28 by means of lying in wait and was murdered for financial gain. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty in the case. Fayed has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center since the FBI arrested him Aug. 1 on a federal money transmitting charge. But federal prosecutors dropped their pending case Monday against Fayed over an alleged illegal money transmitting operation in light of the murder and conspiracy charges. "The other shoe has dropped," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aveis told the court in his motion to drop the federal indictment against Fayed. Aveis, in court proceedings last month, said Fayed had told his wife he could kill her and "my hands would be clean." A possible motive for the killing may have been to prevent Fayed's wife from testifying against him in a criminal case related to his business, an operation the prosecutor described as a Ponzi scheme in which individuals invested up to $20 million. Fayed and his wife jointly owned Camarillo-based Goldfinger Coin and Bullion Sales and an associated Internet firm, E-Bullion. A month before she was killed, Pamela Fayed offered to help federal prosecutors in the criminal probe into the business, officials said. The couple was engaged in divorce proceedings at the time of the killing, and federal prosecutors noted in court documents that James Fayed was expected to be ordered to pay about $1 million in spousal support and attorney fees on July 29 -- the day after his wife was killed. The couple had two children, an 18-year-old daughter from Pamela's first marriage, and a 9-year-old daughter. Moya was arrested last Thursday and has remained jailed since then. After coming under suspicion, Fayed allegedly tried to have Moya killed to prevent his employee from testifying against him, according to today's Los Angeles Times, which cited an unidentified law enforcement source. That allegation is not part of the criminal complaint. |