Murder Case Retrial Ends in Conviction

A member of a Hollywood street “family,” whose first trial in the 1984 murder of an alleged male prostitute ended in a hung jury, was convicted of the killing by a judge Monday under an arrangement in which the charge will be reduced to second-degree murder.

Oleg Pinsky, 20, was convicted by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders based on the transcript of the first trial, which was declared a mistrial last January after jurors voted 7 to 5 in favor of not guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

Pinsky, a Soviet immigrant, was accused in the robbery and shotgun slaying of Carlos Pena, who he and two other members of a so-called “mini-Manson family” spotted near a Hollywood bus stop and lured into their vehicle. Pinsky testified at his monthlong trial that he was high on drugs at the time and that he did not take part in the actual shooting of Pena in the desert outside Los Angeles.

Under the terms of the court arrangement, Pounders will set aside the first-degree conviction and declare Pinsky guilty of second-degree murder at his sentencing Sept. 17. Pinsky will receive a prison term of 15 years to life.

Appeal Verdict

Pinsky’s attorney, William Ringgold, said he will then appeal the verdict based on evidentiary rulings by Pounders during the first trial. If the appeal is upheld, the prosecution could still retry Pinsky for first-degree murder, Deputy Dist. Atty. Antonio Barreto Jr. said.

Barreto termed the arrangement fair, because it would be difficult to persuade a jury to convict Pinsky of first-degree murder due to his professed lack of participation in the actual shooting.

Ringgold, meanwhile, said, “I just felt with . . . the evidence and the state of the law that this was an appropriate and fair sentence.”

Ringgold also stressed that the agreement does not call for Pinsky to testify against fellow family members Sonny Godfrey, 42, and Robert Harris Ormsbee, 20. In addition to the Pena slaying, the two are charged with the murders of two other homosexual male prostitutes in what authorities have said may have been part of a family plan to purge Santa Monica Boulevard of male prostitutes.

Armed Robbery

Pinsky was convicted at his trial of two unrelated counts of armed robbery at a Hollywood hotel. But Pounders, under the agreement, will not sentence Pinsky to additional time for those counts.

A fourth group member, Thomas Canup, 24, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder in another killing.