DYSTINY MYERS- 15 yo (2010) - Santa Barbara CA

Five defendants charged with teen's murder could be executed


Posted: Oct 13, 2010 11:25 PM by Nancy Chen Source: KSBY News
Updated: Oct 14, 2010 8:02 AM

• 
  
  
  
  • 
    
  • DYSTINY MYERS
    
  
  
  
  
  
  • Suspects charged with Santa Maria teenager could face death penalty
    
  
  

Related Articles
Five defendants charged with teen's murder could now face death penalty

• Dystiny Myers' grandmother remembers the murdered teen
  
• Murder investigation: Dystiny Myers remembered as full of life
  

The five people charged with the murder of a 15-year-old Dystiny Myers could face the death penalty.The San Luis Obispo county district attorney's office imposed the possibility of a stricter punshiment today because of special circumstances.Myers was killed last month and her body was found near Santa Margarita.If the five defendants are found guilty they would face either life in prison without parole or the death penalty.Defense attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu is not associated with the case but has practiced law locally for more than thirty years."You are literally, literally fighting for the life of your client," Funke-Bilu said.The changes do not necessarily mean the death penalty if the defendants are found guilty, but it does mean it is now a possibility."If they filed it, then I'm concerned, as should the defendants be concerned, the D.A.'s going to try and execute them," Funke-Bilu said.The defendants in the case, Ty Hill, Jason Greenwell, Frank York, Rhonda Wisto and Cody Miller, have all plead not guilty to first-degree murder.If they're found guilty and the D.A. does decide to go for the death penalty, then it's up to the jury to decide in the penalty phase how each defendant should be punished.The judge has issued a gag order preventing anyone involved with the case from talking about it."When it comes time to have a fair trial for each defendant, it might be difficult to get a panel that can rid itself of the controversial heinous facts because they are heinous," Funke-Bilu said.The usual penalty if someone is found guilty of murder without special circumstances is 25 years in prison to life.In this case, if the defendants are found guilty, it can be only the death penalty or life without parole.
http://www.ksby.com/news/five-defendants-charged-with-teen-s-murder-could-be-executed/

http://www.myspace.com/305871286
her myspace...sad

Death penalty stays in Dystiny Myers case
Defendant had tried to rule it out because special circumstances had not been met
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 26, 2011

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated how many defendants joined an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the case. Four of the five defendants did.

A defendant accused of the murder of Dystiny Myers lost a bid Monday to rule out the death penalty as a possible punishment if he is convicted of the teen’s death.


William McLennan, the attorney for Ty Michael Hill of Santa Maria, had argued in San Luis Obispo Superior Court that this should not be a capital case because Myers, 15, was not kidnapped or tortured in the act of a killing — circumstances required for the death penalty.

Hill is one of five people accused in the death of the teen, who was believed to have been killed somewhere between Nipomo and Santa Margarita, where her body was found dumped and burned in a remote grass field in September.

“While the victim was beaten and asphyxiated, there was no evidence that Ty Michael Hill or any of the defendants had the intent to inflict severe pain, beyond the pain of death, for a sadistic or other evil purpose,” McLennan wrote in his a motion.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Tim Covello countered that the facts of the case, as presented at a preliminary hearing, support the charges against Hill.

“It’s clear that it’s a factual determination,” said Covello, saying evidence shows that Hill participated in the beating and transportation of Myers.

Firefighters responding to a brush fire found Myers’ body beaten and burnt, and she was allegedly bound and gagged, and struck repeatedly while being transported in a vehicle from Nipomo.

The others charged with murder in the case include Jason Adam Greenwell, Frank Jacob York and Rhonda Maye Wisto, all of Nipomo, and Cody Lane Miller of Fresno. Each has pleaded not guilty.

Judge Michael Duffy also denied what was described as a perfunctory motion filed by four of the five defendants to dismiss the case.

Wisto allegedly ordered the killing because Myers had been “disrespectful,” though her purported disrespect wasn’t clarified, according to a Sheriff’s Department investigation. Statements made by some of the defendants led deputies to arrest the five suspects.

The attorneys representing Wisto, York and Miller each supported Hill in a motion to dismiss the case based on an argument of lack of sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.

The attorney for Greenwell, Harold Messick, didn’t join in the motion, but declined to say why.


The motion to dismiss (read motion at link below)
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/07/25/1695505/dystiny-myers-death.html