Recently in Manai Category

Brandon Manai was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of his wife, Julie Rosas, who he threw off a Rancho Palos Verdes cliff. Here is a short story on the hearing, which will be updated later.

It came out during the hearing that Manai wrote a letter to Rosas' sister a couple weeks ago, proposing a trade. Judge James Brandlin read the letter, put it in the court file and ordered Manai to never contact his victim's family again. You can read it for yourself here. Page 1: letter1.pdf and Page 2: letter2.pdf .

 

Just checked in with prosecutors to see if Brandon Manai would be sentenced tomorrow, as scheduled, for the murder of his wife of 13 days who he threw off a Rancho Palos Verdes cliff. Turns out, they had already postponed it until Thursday. Look for a report then.

A couple of comments on the Brandon Manai murder trial story today caught my eye because they raised a very good question.

"Fashionista" of Rancho Palos Verdes wrote: "I wonder what the point was of so vividly describing her outfit that night.... "

Julie Rosas was dressed up for a night-out-on-the town. What I didn't fit into this story is that, when she left her Norwalk home, she carried with her a grocery bag containing sweats or pajamas to change into after clubbing.

While the defense to the charge has still not been fully revealed, it's possible Manai's attorney may try to suggest to the jury that Rosas went to the Rancho Palos Verdes cliff voluntarily that night, and maybe slipped in a horrible accident.

The point, then, of describing her clothes is that most people would not go, in the dark, to a rocky and precarious cliff-top wearing three-inch heels, a mini-skirt and halter top. Also, that none of her belongings that she left home with, or her car, were found at the scene is, the prosecution believes, circumstantial evidence that Rosas did not go there voluntarily ... or maybe even alive.

Before beginning the process of weeding through potential jurors to find those who would serve on the Brandon Manai cliff death trial, Torrance Superior Court Judge James Brandlin read the would-be panelists a brief summary of the case. So as to avoid any confusion with another high-profile cliff-death case, Brandlin began by telling them this was not that one.

Manai, accused of killing his wife of 13 days, Julia Rosas, in July 2005, is charged with murder. At his preliminary hearing several years ago, it was revealed that he had confessed to his friend while sitting at a Redondo Beach Pier eatery and pointing to the cliffs to the south.

Opening statements are today, followed by the first witnesses. Check the Daily Breeze and dailybreeze.com later for my coverage.

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.