Alleged Prostitute May Be Tried With 3 Men In Monte Sereno Murder
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A prosecutor has filed a motion in Santa Clara County Superior Court to add an alleged prostitute to the case of three men charged in the murder-robbery of Monte Sereno man Raveesh Kumra in his home on Nov. 30.
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Smith said he has asked a Superior Court judge to consolidate the case of accessory to commit murder against Raven Chanel Smith with the other defendants to try all four together.
Smith's motion is set to be considered Monday in Superior Court in San Jose during a plea hearing to be heard by Judge Kenneth Shapero, Smith said.
Javier Garcia and Deangelo Austin, both 21, and Lukis Anderson, 26, have been charged with killing Kumra, 66, and beating his wife Hariner Kumra in an early morning robbery of cash and valuables at his home in the 18000 block of Withey Road.
Melissa Adams, Austin's attorney, has filed two defense motions, one to bar television cameras from recording her client at hearings and another to unseal investigative files so she may copy them, Smith said.
At the request of the district attorney's office, the court has sealed police information used to arrest the defendants "to protect further investigation," Smith said.
Prosecutors have declined to describe Dixon's association with the three men and why she is considered an accessory in Kumra's murder.
Dixon was arrested on the accessory charge and prostitution, drug possession and drunk in public charges during a police sting operation on Dec. 18 in Mountain View.
Dixon's attorney John Ambrosio said in December that Dixon had known Kumra professionally and she provided administrative service to him.
However, prosecutors have filed gang-related charges against Austin and Garcia and included a gang-enhancement allegation against Dixon when she was arrested last month, the district attorney's office said.
Dixon was not mentioned in an amended complaint filed by prosecutors on Dec. 31 in which the district attorney's office said it would seek the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole against Austin, Garcia and Anderson.
Since Kumra was killed during the commission of a robbery, it qualifies as a special enhancement under California law and a sentence of life imprisonment or death may be imposed if the three men are convicted of first-degree murder, prosecutors said.
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