Drug Dealer Pleads Not Guilty To Hollywood Executive’s Murder

By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES, Feb 26 (Reuters) – A convicted drug play pleaded not guilty on Thursday to murdering a Hollywood studio executive whose stays were found buried in a California dried final year, and a invulnerability counsel pronounced he would infer a box was “mutual combat,” not homicide.
John Lenzie Creech, who is already portion an eight-year jail tenure for sale of a tranquil substance, was systematic behind to justice on Mar 26 for serve record in a high-profile box surrounding a murder of Gavin Smith.
“Ultimately a invulnerability will uncover that this was not a murder, that it was mutual fight between dual men,” profession Alex Kessel told reporters outward justice following a brief hearing.
“It did not arrive during any form of vigilant to kill, any premeditation,” Kessel said.
Prosecutors, who have publicly suggested small of their justification opposite Creech, 42, declined to respond to Kessel’s assertions following a hearing.
But family members of a murdered male expelled a matter observant Smith’s genocide had caused them “incomprehensible” pain, adding: “And have no doubt, a justification will clearly uncover this was a cold-blooded, intentional act of murder.”
Smith, a film placement executive during 20th Century Fox, was 57 years aged when he was final seen on a night of May 1, 2012, pushing his black Mercedes divided from a friend’s residence in suburban Oak Park, north of Los Angeles.
Law-enforcement officials released a blank chairman circular for Smith, also famous for personification on UCLA’s 1975 inhabitant championship basketball team. His family posted a $20,000 reward, observant a 6-foot, 6-inch (1.98-meter) ex-athlete with “movie star” looks should be easy to spot.
Detectives got a mangle in Feb 2013 when Smith’s automobile was found in a storage trickery in a Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley, though his disappearance remained unsolved.
In November, military pronounced a skull and other skeleton found by hikers in a shoal grave in a dried easterly of Los Angeles had been identified as belonging to a blank studio executive.
Prosecutors have not pronounced how Smith was killed or what they trust could have encouraged a crime. Smith had met Creech’s wife, Chandrika Creech, in rehab in 2009, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/26/john-creech-pleads-not-guilty-hollywood-murder_n_6765306.html?utm_hp_ref=los-angeles&ir=Los+Angeles