Attempted Murder Defendants Move Step Closer to Second Trial

Mary Sharpski and Michael Shores are accused of conspiring to murder Sharpski's husband, Frank Sharpski, in order to live together with her three children. They allegedly hired a hit man, Antonio Ortega, to murder Sharpski's husband but he survived the machete attack outside their apartment despite extensive injuries.

That was March 3, 2009.

Almost exactly three years later, a second trial moved another step closer Friday in Santa Ana Superior Court as Judge Richard Toohey established a trial setting conference of June 1 for Sharpski and Shores. A separate, second trial for Ortega is scheduled to begin April 23.

The first trial on May 26 resulted in a hung jury when they were unable to reach a verdict, voting 9-3 to convict Ortega, splitting 6-6 on Shores and voting 7-5 to acquit Sharpski. Both Sharpski, 48, and Shores, 40, are from Fountain Valley, while Ortega, 25, is from Santa Ana.

Joel Garson, the attorney for Mary Sharpski, said that his client is anxious for the second trail to begin so she can be exonerated from all charges.

"It’s hard for her sitting in jail all this time, (but) she’s coping with it," Garson said. "She’d like to resolve her case. I don’t think she’s guilty. She was mad at her husband but she didn’t want to kill him, that’s for sure."

Mary Sharpski and Shores, who had been a tenant of the Sharpski's for about a year, are accused of meeting and conspiring with Ortega, a good friend of Shores. Sharpski allegedly agreed to pay Ortega to murder Frank Sharpski and provided Ortega with information of her husband’s daily routine.

In the early morning of March 3, 2009, Ortega is accused of attacking Frank Sharpski, known to friends as "Rick," outside his apartment in the alley of the complex on Euclid Street with a machete. Ortega is accused of fracturing the victim’s skull, severing a thumb and fingers, partly severing his nose, causing several machete wounds, and then leaving him to die.

When Fountain Valley Police Department officers responded at 5:51 a.m. to the scene, they found the victim on the ground near the carports bleeding severely and semi-conscious.

At the trial setting conference scheduled for June 1, the attorneys for both Sharpski and Shores are expected to make a decision on how to proceed and a start day for the trial. The outcome of the Ortega trial should be known by then, which undoubtedly will influence their decision.

"I am hoping that (the Ortega trial) will help us resolve our case. I don’t know yet. The (District Attorney) hasn’t made any commitments," Garson said.

Asked if he thought the outcome would be different now that the trials for Ortega and Sharpski/Shores are split, Garson said he wasn't sure.

“I don’t know if it would have made a difference if we were all together or separate last time or not. It’s hard to predict," he said. "It was probably better that we were together. It makes sense to work on it all at once rather than one at a time."

However, Orange County District Attorney prosecutor Lynda Fernandez said the second trial will be much different than the first.

“We decided to try them (Ortega and Sharpski/Shores) separately after the hung jury, because there was certain evidence I couldn’t introduce at the time of the first trial," she said. "We are going to try Mr. Ortega first, with the other two trailing after that.”