Jury asks death for 1979 slaying

Deepa Bharath

A Riverside jury on Monday decided that a child molester convicted of

murdering a 13-year-old Costa Mesa boy 25 years ago, should be

sentenced to death.

The same jury found 60-year-old James Lee Crummel guilty last

month of kidnapping and killing Jamey Trotter, who disappeared on

April 19, 1979, on his way to Gisler Middle School. The boy was

reportedly last seen walking on Harbor Boulevard from the motel where

he and his mother, Barbara Trotter Brogli, were staying.

Before this trial began in April, Crummel was already serving a

life sentence for molesting a boy in his Newport Crest condo. He was

arrested in 1997 and was one of Newport Beach’s first high-profile

Megan’s Law cases. Many neighbors protested day and night outside his

home to evict him from the neighborhood because of his history as a

sex offender.

Officials say Crummel in 1997 led police to Jamey’s charred

remains in a remote area off the Ortega Highway.

Riverside Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Mitchell said he is very happy

with the jury’s verdict. The jury deliberated on Thursday and Friday

before coming out with their decision Monday morning.

“They were an intelligent jury,” he said. “They used common sense

and went through each piece of evidence.”

The crime that Crummel committed deserved the ultimate punishment,

Mitchell said.

“This is the punishment the people of California want for people

who commit such crimes,” he said.

Public Defender May Ann Galante said the case would automatically

be appealed at the California Supreme Court.

“I believe that this case has several good issues for appeal,” she

said.

Speaking for her client, Galante said Crummel told her right

before the verdict that he was “expecting the worst.”

Galante said one important issue was that the judge did not allow

her to present evidence to the jury linking the notorious “Freeway

Killer,” William Bonin, to Jamey’s death. The judge also did not

allow the defense to present the testimony of James Munro, a

co-defendant in Bonin’s trial. Defense attorneys said Munro told five

people over 22 years that Bonin had killed Jamey.

Galante also alleged that Mitchell inappropriately stopped her

from presenting a theory to jurors that Jamey may have been killed by

a mountain lion.

Mitchell responded to Galante’s remarks saying that it was “not

prosecutorial misconduct to object to irrelevant evidence.”

Brogli said on Tuesday that she had a gut feeling about the

verdict.

“I knew inside that this is the way it was going to go,” she said.

Closure is a word she hears often, but doesn’t understand, Brogli

said.

“You never get over losing a child even after a 100 years,” she

said. “But yes, I’m happy to know that this man will never hurt

another child again.”

Brogli said it was “traumatizing” for her to sit through the trial

and hear about Crummel’s past sexual encounters with young boys. She

as well as Jamey’s two brothers, John and Jeff Trotter, testified in

the trial.

Brogli now lives in Northern California, but made it to every day

of the trial. The facts of the case horrified her, she said.

“[Crummel] is truly an evil man,” she said. “This is what he

deserves.”

But Brogli added that she has no anger, hatred or bitterness in

her heart.

“I’ve made my peace,” she said. “But you never forget your child.

There’s always that hole in your heart.”

Crummel is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9 by Riverside County

Superior Court Judge Dennis McConaghy.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].