Fashion
Arraignment Rescheduled for Three Men Accused in Deadly Fashion Island Robbery – MyNewsLA.com
Three men charged in connection with a deadly attempted robbery at Fashion Island in Newport Beach had their arraignments rescheduled Wednesday as their attorneys objected to the way their clients have been portrayed in media reports.
LeRoy Ernest Joseph McCrary, 26, of Los Angeles, Malachi Eddward Darnell, 18, of Los Angeles, and Jaden Cunningham, 18, of Lancaster, have been charged with murder with special circumstances of robbery during a killing. They are accused of killing 68-year-old Patricia McKay of New Zealand, who was in town with her husband, to visit family.
McKay was run over and dragged by a getaway car in the robbery, prosecutors allege.
The three were scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 1, when attorneys will also make arguments for bail for the defendants, who are being held without bail.
The defense attorneys, along with Orange County Superior Court Judge Andre Manssourian, were demanding that Orange County Sheriff’s officials explain why the three were not brought over to court on Friday or Monday for scheduled arraignments.
Ray Chen of the Alternate Defender’s Office, who represents Cunningham, objected to media coverage of Wednesday’s hearing. Chen complained about news images of the men in jail “safety gowns” that made them appear shirtless.
He also said there were reports in “biased media coverage” that indicated the men refused to come to court, which he said was not true.
Manssourian said that the news coverage will not bias future jurors as it amounted to a “one-day news cycle.” However, Kate Corrigan, who represents Darnell, said the case has drawn international news coverage due to the victims residing in New Zealand.
The judge noted that allowing media coverage Wednesday will mean news reports will show the three in their jail jumpsuits now and not shirtless. He also said the hearing allowed for the correction of any reporting that the three refused to come to court.
Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill said after the hearing that he attended as a representative of the McKay family.
“They needed someone here to represent them,” the mayor said.
The mayor added “thank God” the defendants are being prosecuted in Orange County, as he complained about reports that McCrary had prior convictions in Los Angeles County.
“Reports are clear the driver has a series of prior felonies,” O’Neill told reporters. “One of them is pulling a gun on someone and robbing them of their watch, which sounds a whole lot like what they did in this case. He served a grand total of five days in jail… (The defendants) will be in jail four times longer in this case (as of Aug. 1).”
The mayor said “even in the safest communities, you still need to look over your shoulder now and again” because of “`bad criminal policy” in Los Angeles County.
He said he felt a “mixture of anger and sadness” at the hearing.
“It’s that mixture of seeing three men who made really awful choices and took the life of someone who, by all accounts, made a lot of great choices in her life,” the mayor said.
McKay and her 69-year-old husband had just finished shopping at the high-end shopping mall when they were confronted by two masked robbers from a Toyota Camry, prosecutors alleged.
With a gun to the husband’s head, the robbers demanded his watch and forced him to the ground while shoppers in the afternoon heist ran for safety, prosecutors said. When Darnell and Cunningham failed to get what they wanted from the husband they turned to McKay with Cunningham allegedly hurling her to the ground and dragging her into the street, where the getaway car driven by McCrary was approaching, prosecutors alleged.
The woman’s husband jumped in front of the car to block it, but he was pushed away by the vehicle as McKay was run over and dragged about 65 feet, prosecutors said.
As Cunningham sprinted to catch up to the getaway car, a good Samaritan attempted to stop him, prompting Darnell to shoot at the bystander, prosecutors alleged.
McCrary slowed down enough to give Cunningham a chance to get in and they fled the scene, prosecutors alleged. Cunningham bailed in Cypress and the other two were collared in South Gate following a police chase, according to prosecutors.
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