MURRIETA: Lawyer says pimp did not push for murder

Prosecutor: Ward's unique relationships allowed for cryptic orders

By JOHN HALL - Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 3, 2008 7:18 PM PST ∞

FRENCH VALLEY ---- A Murrieta pimp did try to have an underage prostitute intimidated into not testifying against him, but he is not guilty of trying to have the Temecula teen killed, the man's attorney told jurors Wednesday.

"Find Michael Ward guilty for what he did and not nudge over the line because (you believe) he's despicable," Ward's attorney, James Curtis said during his closing argument at Southwest Justice Center.

Ward, 24, is charged with conspiring to commit murder, dissuade a witness and commit robbery. He also is accused of committing the crimes in association with a criminal street gang, which authorities say members called Pimp'n Ho's Daily, or PHD.

The only thing that kept the then-16-year-old girl from being killed was that the man Ward was going to pay $5,000 to do it was arrested on an unrelated charge in San Diego the night before it was supposed to happen, Deputy District Attorney Brandon Smith told jurors in his closing argument.

The prosecutor keyed in on what he called "the unique relationship" Ward has with other members of PHD, a relationship that allowed Ward to be ambiguous in recorded jailhouse phone calls and use slang to communicate his plan to have the girl killed.

In a call from jail made less than an hour after being arrested Aug. 5, 2005, on pimping charges, Ward told someone that "it's official, like a referee with a whistle," a phrase Smith said means that Ward now knew that the underage girl had cooperated with Murrieta police.

In another call, Ward used the phrase "that neez in Hollyweez," which Smith told the jury refers to a "night in Hollywood" during which there was a shooting.

Ward told one of his prostitutes in another call that "with no that, then it's no nothing."

Smith told jurors Ward meant that without the underage prostitute, prosecutors had no case against him.

"The only thing standing between Michael Ward walking out the back door of that jail is (the teen)," Smith said.

Ward's attorney told the jury that "a big part of this case is what people meant" and that "this case is all about intent; what people were thinking."

Curtis asked the jurors, while deliberating, to "use the idea of context when trying to figure out what people were saying in all these phone calls."

Two of the men Ward communicated with from jail also are charged in the case.

Ira Henry Hatchett and Andre Jeriel Jacques, both 24, are charged with conspiring to dissuade a witness and to commit robbery as well as the gang allegation.

The prosecutor said both men agreed to take part in Ward's plan, telling jurors it doesn't matter whether they were reluctant to do so in order to be found guilty, just that there was an agreement.

Hatchett is serving as his own attorney at the trial. Both he and Jacques' attorney, Lorene Mies, will have an opportunity to give closing arguments to the jury Thursday when the trial resumes.

Also expected to give a closing statement as early as Thursday is James Bender, attorney for Ward's 55-year-old mother, Damita.

She is charged with being an accessory and authorities say she helped her son by facilitating the calls made from the jail via three-way calls placed to others, a type of call that is prohibited by jail regulations.

The prosecutor told jurors that Damita Ward was told by police Aug. 26, 2005, when they served a search warrant at her home, that they were investigating a murder conspiracy and that she would be committing a crime if she kept making these three-way calls for her son.

"She continued to make the phone calls," Smith said.

After the three remaining defense attorneys complete their closing arguments, the prosecutor will give his final argument after which jurors will begin deliberating the case against all four defendants.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.