Rancho Palos Verdes Cliff Death Case
It's been more than two years since we visited the case against Brandon Manai. Manai, 26, is accused of throwing his wife of 13 days from a Palos Verdes cliff. Julia Rosas' body was found floating in the surf July 3, 2005 below Calle Entradero and Palos Verdes Drive West in Rancho Palos Verdes. The 24-year-old was last seen when Manai picked her up to go to a club the day before.
Manai was pretty close to going to trial recently. Jury selection was just about to begin in Torrance Superior Court when a conflict-of-interest arose. He was being represented by the Public Defender's Office, but the office had represented one of the witnesses in the case.
Manai was back in court today for a pretrial, and Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said another pretrial was scheduled for April 29. He estimated it would be another six months before the case goes to trial as Manai's new attorney, a deputy alternate public defender, gets up to speed on the case.
About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
Twitter updates from Larry Altman
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About the Blogger
Denise Nix knew as young as grade school, when she spent every summer working on the camp newspaper, that she wanted to be a journalist. Denise has spent most of the last 12 years of her career in the courtroom. She joined the Daily Breeze in 2001, where she tracks and reports on hundreds of cases at every level of the justice system. And she's never, ever, seen a judge use a gavel.
E-mail Denise at denise.nix@dailybreeze.com.
Twitter updates from Denise Nix
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