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Updated February 5, 1999, 3:35 p.m. ET Judge won't overturn conviction in Ennis Cosby murder
During a hearing Thursday, a judge refused to set aside the Markhasev's July 7, 1998 conviction for the murder of Ennis Cosby. Markhasev's lawyers had asked for a new trial, arguing that six incriminating jailhouse letters used against their client were the work of convicted forger David Gomez. They alleged Gomez, who is serving a 91-year-to life term for several felony convictions, made up the letters to gain favor with authorities.
During the trial, prosecutor Anne Ingalls centered her case around the letters in which Markhasev apparently implicated himself in the crime. One of the letters suggested Markhasev went to Bel-Air on the night of Ennis Cosby's murder to rob an apparent drug dealer. "I went to rob a connection and obviously found something else," the letter said. However, the judge ruled that there was enough substantial evidence without the letters, to support the jury's verdict. At Markhasev's trial Ingalls told jurors that the defendant implicated himself when he bragged about the murder to two friends, Christopher So and Michael Chang, and asked them to help him find the murder weapon, which he had thrown away in field. So later gave police information leading to their recovery of the murder weapon two months after Cosby's January 1997 slaying. Markhasev, a reputed gang member, was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted robbery and using a firearm in his botched January 1997 robbery of Cosby. He is currentlly serving a life sentence without parole. The Associated Press contributed to the report. |
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