Guest Post: One “Hollywood” Criminal Gets Real Life Punishment by Sarah Russel
The following post has been contributed by Sarah Russel of Masters in Criminal Justice.
Justice has finally been served in real life in the story that inspired the movie Alpha Dog, that details the kidnap and murder of a 15-year-old boy. After the murder in 2000, the main suspect in the crime, Jesse James Hollywood went on the run, finally being apprehended in Brazil.
After four days of jury deliberation, Hollywood was found guilty of the murder of young Nicholas Markowitz, as well as special circumstances that involved using an assault weapon in the commission of the crimes, making him eligible for the death penalty. Hollywood showed little remorse during the trial or when his sentence was read, preferring instead to stare straight ahead, though he declared his innocence in the trial stating he was responsible for the kidnapping but not the eventual murder.
The crime was the result of a supposed drug debt held by Nicholas Markowitz’s half brother Ben Markowitz. The young man was purportedly kidnapped and taken to a holding place in Santa Barbara in an attempt to ransom or settle this debt, but was killed, many believe, because Hollywood learned that kidnapping held a life sentence.
Ryan Hoyt, the gunman in the crime, was previously convicted of murdering the young man and sentenced to death, but prosecutors believed that he was only following orders given by Hollywood. Yet Hoyt, and two other young men already convicted in the case were not called as witnesses, even thought they may have been able to testify to Hollywood’s guilt.
Whether or not Hollywood will share his gunman’s sentencing or will end up in prison for life is up for debate, as the penalty phase of the trail is scheduled to begin July 13th.
This post was contributed by Sarah Russel, who writes about the criminal justice masters. She welcomes your feedback at SarahRussel1234 at gmail.com
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