Jesse James Hollywood Guilty Of First-Degree Murder & Kidnapping (Photos)

A Santa Barbara jury has found Jesse James Hollywood guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping for ordering the killing of Nicholas Markowitz. The story of Jesse James Hollywod is what the movie “Alpha Dog” was based upon. Read more on Jesse James Hollywood below.

The crime was the model for the 2007 movie “Alpha Dog.” Defense attorneys argued that the crime’s notoriety tainted the testimony of witnesses and prejudiced the public against their client.

Hollywood could receive the death penalty.

Markowitz was beaten up, forced into a van near his home and driven to Santa Barbara by Hollywood and a couple of his friends. Prosecutors said the aim was to hold Markowitz until his older half-brother Ben made good on a $1,200 drug debt to Hollywood, an admitted marijuana dealer.

Defense attorneys said Markowitz was free to go shortly after the group arrived in Santa Barbara and that a Hollywood friend named Ryan Hoyt opted to kill the boy to win the defendant’s approval. On July 1, prosecutor Joshua Lynn repeated his description of Hoyt as a lackey who would do anything — including commit murder — for the more popular Hollywood.

“What would not elevate his status would be to do it against Hollywood’s orders,” he said. Hoyt has been sentenced to death. Graham Pressley, who dug Nicholas’ grave in the Santa Barbara foothills, was sentenced as a juvenile and has been released.

In his testimony, Pressley said another accomplice, Jesse Rugge, contended that Hollywood had offered him $2,000 to kill the boy, which he refused. Rugge was acquitted of murder but given a life sentence for aggravated kidnapping.

Nicolas Markowitz was held for a few days but Jesse James Hollywood was afraid he’d face charges of kidnapping so took the boy to a park where he shot and buried the 15 year-old. Hollywood wasn’t at the scene but had his orders carried out.

This makes the fourth trial in this case. The defendants have all been convicted. One was released after time served, another received life in prison, and the man that pulled shot the boy is on death row.

Hollywood evaded capture by California police and lived as a fugitive in Brazil for four years before his 2005 apprehension.

Some of the most compelling coverage of the trial has come from Natasha Vargas-Cooper, who grew up with Nicholas Markowitz in West Hills and has been writing about her memories and the proceedings for The Awl. Here are her posts:

I grew up with Nick Markowitz. We had a three-day hand-holding affair the summer of 7th grade. He was a part of my tight circle of goofy theater kid friends who were transformed into a traumatized fraternity after his murder….

Nick was lanky, awkward, and emotional. I remember giving him several tight hugs during our friendship while he would sob because he was distraught. Nick was handsome and funny but he never fit in, though he was eager to.

As we got older, Nick became increasingly out of sorts with the dorky drama crowd. He became more shy, more conscious of the high school pecking order. His older step-brother Ben, a thug in the neighborhood, was letting Nick kick around with his group of friends more frequently. Ben’s friends were a cluster of older, small-time drug dealers. I imagine it was difficult for Nick to alternate between drinking with tattooed twenty-year-olds to staying after school so he could practice mime with a bunch of 13-year-old thespians.
So by the end of freshmen year, Nick had dropped out of drama. I felt betrayed that he chose a group of dope-slanging outsiders over us. I snubbed him when he greeted me with a huge smile…