Orange County Murder Defense Attorneys
Prosecutor: Man who mugged WWII vet a 'coward'
October 31, 2011
ocregister.com
By LARRY WELBORN
original article
SANTA ANA – An Orange County prosecutor on Monday called the mugger who beat and kicked a World War II Army paratrooper on Veterans Day 2003 a "cruel coward" who should be convicted of murder because the serviceman died from his injuries nearly four years later.
Cecil Warren, a World War II veteran, was assaulted on Veterans Day 2003 by two men who beat him and took about $50 from his wallet. He died nearly four years later.
Deputy District Attorney Sonia Balleste told a jury in final arguments that Army veteran Cecil "Lucky" Warren, 81, would not have died in September 2007 after coming down with pneumonia had it not been for the beating inflicted by Curtis James Hill, 29.
Defense attorney Jeremy Goldman did not deny that his client, along with co-defendant John Kirk McKinney, 30, beat and kicked Warren during the predawn hours of Nov. 11, 2003. But Goldman said there is insufficient evidence to prove the beating led to Warren's death on Sept. 22, 2007.
"If you have a reasonable doubt whether the actions of Mr. Hill caused Mr. Warren's death, you must find him not guilty," Goldman argued.
Warren spent the last 3 1/2 years of his life breathing through a respirator and being fed through a tube. He was unable to speak and could not even recognize Betty Warren, his wife of 60 years.
The attack took place when the two men entered Warren's van, parked at a Huntington Beach bank, at about 4:30 a.m. Warren, who was working as a groundskeeper at the bank, confronted the men, who beat him and took his wallet.
Warren gave police a brief description of the two defendants before he lost consciousness. Surveillance videos from a nearby gas station showed the two men hanging out shortly before the attack. Hill later confessed to the mugging.
Hill pleaded guilty in October 2006 to robbery, aggravated assault and other charges for the attack on Warren. He was serving a nine-year term in prison when Warren died. He was then arrested and charged with murder in 2009.
McKinney was found guilty in November 2006 of robbery and aggravated assault and was serving four years in prison when he was charged with Warren's murder. He will be tried separately later.
