Lawyer for convicted felon discusses defense strategy
DOWNTOWN LA — A capital murder case against the man accused of killing a Santa Monica woman likely will go to trial in April, more than two years after the woman’s death.
Victor Paleologus, 42, has been charged with killing Kristine Johnson, 21, on Feb. 15, 2002. She was found dead two weeks later in a Laurel Canyon ravine, partially nude, with her ankles bound by shoelaces.
After more than a year of delays, attorneys agreed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that they will be ready for trial by April 15. Paleologus faces the death penalty if convicted.
Johnson disappeared after she told roommates she was going on a photo shoot in Beverly Hills with a man she met at the Century City Mall earlier that day.
Paleologus used a similar ruse on at least eight other victims, according to prosecutors, who this past December convinced Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry to allow the other women to testify against Paleologus in front of a jury.
Paleologus’ attorney, Andrew Flier, on Wednesday subpoenaed 30 witnesses who are related to the alleged victims in a variety of ways. Many of the potential witnesses showed up in court, confused as to how they were involved in the case. Judge Perry scolded Flier for dragging them into the courtroom, saying the move was premature. Flier asked the witnesses for their personal contact information and they left the courtroom.
“They are defense witnesses and suddenly I’m being charged with premature subpoenaing,” Flier said after the court hearing. “I need to recreate each individual case... and now, I will be calling witnesses near the trial and asking for continuances.”
Flier also filed a motion to suppress evidence gathered through search warrants, arguing police didn’t have enough probable cause to search Paleologus’ personal property. FIier filed a second motion asking the court to reconsider an earlier decision to allow at trial a previous case in which Paleologus was acquitted for attempted rape, assault and false imprisonment.
Paleologus in that case was accused of luring a woman into a hotel room after telling her she would meet famous people, including Madonna, at a party for record executives. Paleologus then allegedly tied the woman to a hotel bed and attempted to rape her. The woman was able to escape.
Flier said no court trial transcript can be found in the case, and several defense exhibits have been lost.
“I think I’ve been deprived of a fair trial,” he said. “They’ve already got seven other women, why do they need one more?”
Johnson’s mother, Terry Hall, and other family members and friends were present in June of 2003 during a two-day preliminary hearing when prosecutors laid out evidence they say links Paleologus to the events leading up to Johnson’s disappearance. The evidence also establishes a pattern of Paleologus posing as a publicity photographer or as an industry executive in an attempt to lure women.
Santa Monica Police officers testified that five women have come forward who said they were approached by Paleologus, claiming to be a publicity photographer for an upcoming James Bond movie. Some of the women were told they could make between $100,000 and $200,000 in the film starring Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. All of the women were either able to escape or were suspicious enough not to meet Paleologus a second time.
In most cases, Paleologus asked that the women show up to the photo shoots wearing provocative clothing, including black, high-heel stiletto pumps, a short black miniskirt and nylons, according to testimony.
That clothing was consistent with what Johnson was wearing when she was found dead on March 3 at the bottom of a steep hillside in a remote neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills. She also tried on the clothing at her 29th Street apartment for her roommate shortly before she went to meet Paleologus, according to court testimony.
Flier insists that Paleologus is innocent and the DA’s case is weak because it’s based on circumstantial evidence only. He has pointed out that the prosecution has no scientific evidence linking Paleologus to the murder — no fingerprints were found in her car, and no blood or DNA was found in any of the places searched by police, or near her body.
“They want to focus on the past, not the present,” he said Wednesday. “He’s adamant he didn’t do this and I believe him. I’m too good a lawyer to represent rapists.”
Paleologus has been convicted of six felonies since 1998 ranging from grand theft to burglary to assault. He was released from state prison on Jan. 20, just three weeks before Johnson disappeared.
Two days after Johnson was reported missing, Paleologus was arrested by Beverly Hills police after he allegedly stole a BMW from a car dealership lot. Paleologus allegedly tried to buy a car at Beverly Hills BMW using the name, social security number and credit history of Robert Wasvary, who owns a home on Wonderland Park Avenue in the Hollywood Hills — just blocks away from where Johnson’s body was found.
Paleologus is charged with capital murder, as well as six counts relating to the Beverly Hills case including identity theft, filing a false financial statement, burglary, grand theft auto, forgery and receiving stolen property.
Hall, who lives in Los Gatos, Calif., was present for Wednesday’s court proceedings. She said she’s anxious for the trial to begin, especially now that the second anniversary of her daughter’s death has come and gone.
“It’s been incredibly difficult and since then, there has been pretty much no movement,” Hall said. “That’s the way the wheels of justice turn.”
Hall said the court delays have at least given her enough time to grieve and catch a second wind for the next round of emotional distress.
“I did not have the stamina then to go through a trial,” she said. “I think now it will be a swift trial, but it will be pretty energy zapping.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 17, 2005. Read the original PDF.