Man in murder trial wrote he was ‘born to do this’

By Matt Pordum

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 | 9:48 a.m.

A prosecutor said a jailhouse journal and a 911 call would make it clear to jurors that a 24-year-old man was acting as a hired enforcer when he killed a 19-year-old and wounded another man at "drug flop house."

Jim Holden is on trial in the murder of Michael Panek and shooting of Gary Sutton at a home in the 5500 block of White Cap during the early morning hours of Feb. 6, 2004.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said Holden wrote in his journal that he "got those stupid pigs believing it was self-defense."

In frenzied run-on sentences filled with misspellings and lacking punctuation, Holden's journal zigzags between complaining about headaches -- he says he hears voices and has violent nightmares -- and pining for his wife and son. But the bulk of the journal is dedicated chronicling crimes he has committed or wants to commit.

District Judge Jennifer Togliatti had previously ruled the portions of the journal Holden wrote, in which he claims to be a murderer for hire, would be admissible at trial. She said only those portions that make reference to the murder and to him referring to himself as a hitman would be admitted.

DiGiacomo highlighted two other passages in which Holden writes being paid "to kill is easy when you have no feelings" and that he was "born to do this."

The prosecutor alleges Holden was hired to be an enforcer by his friend Rodney Evans because Evans wanted to get revenge on Panek and Sutton for beating up a friend of his two days prior to the killing.

In January Evans pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon and one count of battery with use of a deadly weapon in connection to the incident and was sentenced to five to 20 years in prison.

DiGiacomo said Panek and Sutton were kicked out of the home after the incident, but returned to pick up their belongings. He said when they entered the home Holden and Evans were waiting for them with a gun and baseball bat respectively.

DiGiacomo said Holden shot Panek in the head as Panek pulled a knife and jumped over a couch while trying to escape from the house. He said Sutton then tried to get the gun out of Holden's hand, but Evans hit him with the bat and told Holden to shoot him.

After opening arguments Dr. Rexene Worrell, the coroner who performed an autopsy on the body, testified the bullet entry wound suffered by Panek was consistent with a gun being placed against the top left side of Panek's head.

In an unusual courtroom moment, DiGiacomo dropped to his knees while Deputy District Attorney Susan Krisko held her right hand like a gun as Worrel showed the jury where the gun would have been pressed against Panek's head.

On cross-examination, however, Holden's attorney, Bret Whipple, had Worrell show the same wound could have happened if Panek had lunged headlong at Holden.

Holden shot Sutton in the arm, which allowed Sutton to run out of the house where police officers were waiting.

The officers had responded to a 911 call made by Panek. Excerpts of the tape were played in court Tuesday.

"If we don't kill you (expletives), you are going to get your ass kicked," a voice on the tape screams. "We're going to start beating the (expletive) out of you, piece by piece."

During the call a frantic Panek can be heard telling the dispatcher "he's got a gun in my face right now, please come and help me." As the dispatcher continuously asks where the incident is occurring Panek repeats several times "White Cap, White Cap."

DiGiacomo said Holden told police at the scene: "These guys attacked me. I shot them in self-defense. Sorry." The prosecutor said Holden was released, but after the police got hold of the 911 tape they determined "there was no way it was self-defense."

The big break in the case, however, was that Holden was arrested for the March 27 slaying of 34-year-old Gerardo Ojeda. Police say Holden shot Ojeda-Garcia in the head with a high-caliber rifle in an apartment at 3301 Civic Center Drive.

The Ojeda-Garcia case is to be tried before District Judge David Wall.

Holden allegedly admitted to police that his friend "Smokey" hired him to get money that Ojeda-Garcia owed him and when he didn't pay up Holden shot him.

While in custody at the Clark County Detention Center Holden began writing his diary, which was later discovered and used by police as more evidence that Holden had not been acting in self-defense when he shot Panek.

Whipple, admitted the journal was "devastating testimony that's terrible" but added "nothing happens in a vacuum."

Whipple said a cellmate named Steven Hall befriended Holden after he was arrested for the Ojeda-Garcia shooting. Whipple said Hall went on to "set-up" Holden by suggesting he "do this journal and let me take care of it."

The defense attorney said Hall then passed the journal on to his attorney saying "get me another deal."

Whipple said Holden was "naive and gullible," but not guilty of murdering Panek.

He pointed to the fact that the "police officers who did the investigation and the crime scene analysts who were there that night all chose not to arrest my client that night because it was self-defense."

Whipple said Holden was at the residence the night of the killing because of the fight two days earlier not as a hitman, but instead as a concerned friend. Whipple said Holden's friend "feared for his life" because of the beating he suffered at the hands of Panek and Sutton.

Whipple said when Panek and Sutton arrived at the house Holden believed they were armed and looking to cause trouble, so he pulled his gun and ordered them to the ground. He said although the pair first complied with Holden's request Panek then pulled out a knife and lunge toward Holden.

Whipple said in the end the jury would find Holden was "guilty of nothing other than protecting himself."

The defense attorney told the jurors that because they would hear about the Ojeda-Garcia shooting "it will be challenging to control your emotions and concentrate on the facts at hand."

The prosecution is expected to continue its case this morning.