Monday, Jun. 22, 2009
Pair found guilty of first degree murder in Joshua Houlgate death
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closeTwo San Luis Obispo men stood still as a jury convicted them Monday of first-degree murder after deliberating for little more than a day.
Gasps broke out in the courtroom as a clerk read the verdicts against 37-year-old Chad Westbrook and 19-year-old Patrick Wollett, who were charged with killing 36-year-old Joshua Houlgate of San Luis Obispo.
Both men face up to life in prison, said prosecutors. They are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 5.
They were convicted in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on charges stemming from the killing of Houlgate on Dec. 6, 2007, at Wollett’s home at the Oceanaire Mobile Home Park on Orcutt Road.
Westbrook was accused of shooting Houlgate with a shotgun while Wollett battered both Houlgate and Sarah Lonsinger-Rey with a baseball bat after the pair had just had sex.
Lonsinger-Rey had been engaged to Wollett’s brother, which is what prosecutors said prompted the crime.
Jurors also found Westbrook and Wollett guilty of felony assault with a deadly weapon and convicted Westbrook separately of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The men were not found guilty of felony conspiracy, a charge that the jury had the most trouble with, panel foreman Brian Henninger said outside of court.
“One (Westbrook) made the decision to kill. Pat did not,” said Henninger, explaining that they were not convinced Wollett was conspiring with Westbrook.
Henninger started tearing up when asked how the jury reached its decisions.
“It was difficult,” Henninger said, adding that jurors did not take any of the charges lightly.
And when deliberations began, he said, they agreed the men were guilty of murder but were split on some of the additional charges.
Key evidence that swayed jurors included the eyewitness account, cell phone text messages sent by Wollett to friends that reportedly stated something bad was going to happen, and Wollett telling a friend he might go to jail for the rest of his life.
“He left a trail of what was going to happen,” Henninger said of Wollett’s text messages and conversations with friends.
A recorded conversation between Westbrook and Wollett as they were driven from jail also played a significant role in convincing jurors that the pair had committed the murder. But it also raised some questions.
“We expected a bigger defense,” Henninger said. “In the audio, they were talking about self-defense and that was never brought up.”
Westbrook’s defense attorney, Gael Mueller, said they presented the evidence they had and that for a self-defense case, her client would have had to testify to prove he was fearful.
Neither defendant testified in the case.
I was “disappointed,” said Mueller, walking to her office. “We were hoping for (second degree) murder. ... Intoxication can do away with the premeditation. That’s where I thought they would go.”
There was nothing more she could have presented in the case and no further witnesses she could have called, Mueller said.
Wollett’s attorney, Gregory Jacobson, could not be reached for comment after the verdicts were read.
Deputy District Attorney Matt Kerrigan said after the verdict that he was pleased with the jury’s decision and that he presented all necessary evidence in hopes of swaying jurors on the conspiracy charge.
Leslie Parrilla can be reached at 783-7645.
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