The arraignment of three drifters charged with murdering a Fairfax hiker and a San Francisco tourist was delayed a second time on Monday while arrangements are completed for court-appointed legal counsel.
The defendants — Morrison Haze Lampley, 23, Sean Michael Angold, 24, and Lila Scott Alligood, 18 — were scheduled to return to court on Thursday before Judge Kelly Simmons. They are being held without bail.
Lampley is being represented by the public defender’s office. Defense attorney Terrence Bennett accepted court appointment to Angold’s case on Monday. Representation was still being arranged for Alligood.
All three suspects are facing a potential death sentence, limiting the pool of defense attorneys who meet the state’s qualifications to take on the case.
None of the defendants has entered a plea.
The body of the first victim, Audrey Carey, 23, was found Oct. 3 in Golden Gate Park. Carey, a resident of Quebec, was on a backpacking trip to the United States when she was killed.
The killers stole Carey’s tent, a sleeping bag, a passport, airline tickets, camping equipment and a tarp, according to prosecution filings.
The alleged murder weapon, a Smith and Wesson handgun, was stolen from a car in the Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco, police said.
Two days later, the second victim, 67-year-old Steve Carter, was shot to death while walking his dog on a trail off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in the Loma Alta Preserve near Fairfax. The dog, a Doberman Pinscher named Coco, was shot and survived.
The suspects then allegedly stole Carter’s car and headed north. They were arrested in Portland on Oct. 7 with the stolen car, Carey’s stolen property and the stolen gun allegedly used in the crime spree, authorities said.
The defendants are charged with first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait and committing murder during a robbery. The special circumstances mean the defendants could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted, but prosecutors could instead seek life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The defendants are also charged with robbery, vehicle theft, possession of a stolen vehicle, animal cruelty and being in possession of property stolen from both victims.
Lampley, the alleged gunman in both deaths, faces additional charges of possessing a stolen gun and being a convicted felon with a gun. Prosecutors say he was convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle last May in San Diego County.
The defendants are being prosecuted in Marin Superior Court for both the Fairfax and the San Francisco homicides.
Carter, a yoga and Tantra instructor, was living in San Geronimo with his wife Lokita. The couple, who had previously lived in Lake County and Costa Rica, moved to Marin so she could receive breast cancer treatments. —— (c)2015 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) Visit The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) at www.marinij.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. AMX-2015-10-26T23:19:00-04:00
