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Oct 10, 2007 4:33 pm US/Pacific
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New Trial Sought For Man In His Wife's Murder Plot
LONG BEACH (CBS) ―
Defense attorneys sought a new trial Wednesday for a Long Beach man, 67, convicted of orchestrating the murder-for-hire of his estranged wife and facing a life prison term without the possibility of parole.
The move delayed Wednesday's scheduled sentencing hearing for Manfred Schockner, which was reset to Dec. 6. Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gary Ferrari is expected to rule on the new trial bid on that date.
On Sept. 7, jurors deliberated about 45 minutes before finding Schockner guilty of first-degree murder in the Nov. 8, 2004, stabbing death of his estranged wife at the home they once shared in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach.
The jury also found true the special circumstance allegation that 50-year-old Lynn Schockner was killed for financial gain. Prosecutors said her husband wanted to avoid having to split at least $3.5 million in community property.
Schockner was the last of three men to go on trial for the slaying, which occurred on a backyard patio as Long Beach police waited outside the victim's front door to get a back gate key so they could investigate a neighbor's call of a prowler.
Nicholas Alexander Harvey, who was arrested at the scene after he jumped over a fence into the path of waiting officers, told police he had been offered $5,000 to kill the woman and stage a burglar•. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced in April to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Frankie Jaramillo, who prosecutors said played the role of middleman between Harvey and Schockner, was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced in June to life behind bars.
Schockner testified in his own defense and denied being involved in his estranged wife's killing.
Minutes after the jury's verdict was returned last month, the couple's teenage son, Charlie, stood up and told his father, "I disclaim all relations to you. I will never be your son."
Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes told jurors that Schockner stood to gain millions of dollars if his wife was dead, that he was the one who "masterminded' the plot to have her killed and that he left behind a "money trail."
Barnes said $50,000 Schockner gave Jaramillo shortly before the killings was "clearly money to pay for the murders" and said they, and Harvey, "stood to gain financially."
Phone records showed repeated calls between Schockner and Jaramillo and between Jaramillo and Harvey in the days leading up to the slaying, the prosecutor added.
Defense attorney Stanley Perlo countered that Schockner had an "ongoing business relationship" with Jaramillo, with Schockner loaning Jaramillo money as early as February 2003.
"Apparently he was conning Mr. Schockner," the defense attorney said of Jaramillo. "This guy, Jaramillo, sees Fred as his cash cow. Fred is now in the process of separation. The funds get tied up."
He suggested that Jaramillo was "the planner, the plotter," not the middleman, and that Jaramillo on his own hired Harvey to kill the woman to get her out of the way or to burglarize her house to steal jewelry.
Schockner has been jailed without bail since his Dec. 3, 2004, arrest.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)