Defense Rests in Murder-for-Hire Trial

The defense rested Thursday in the attempted-murder and conspiracy trial of Mary Sharpski, Michael Shores and Antonio Ortega, but not before Ortega faced several lines of tough questioning under cross-examination.

Ortega, 25, of Santa Ana, along with Sharpski, 48, and Shores, 40, both of Fountain Valley, are charged with plotting to kill Frank Sharpski, known to friends and family as Rick, in March 2009. As part of the alleged conspiracy with Shores and Sharpski, Ortega is accused of attacking Rick Sharpski with a machete in an alley outside of the couple’s home and leaving him to die the morning of March 3, 2009, fracturing his skull, severing a thumb and fingers, partly severing his nose and causing several other machete wounds.

Ortega testified Wednesday that he'd suffered a nosebleed near the scene of the attack on Rick Sharpski the night before the attack took place. DNA taken from blood at the scene matched that of Ortega. During cross-examination Thursday, prosecuting attorney Lynda Fernandez asked Ortega why he hadn't told detectives about the nosebleed after they told him they'd found his DNA at the scene and asked him how it could have ended up there. Lead investigator Vern Ahlo later confirmed on the stand that he'd told Ortega about the DNA and that Ortega had given no explanation at the time of his arrest as to how it could have been left at the scene.

Fernandez also challenged Ortega's testimony that he'd loaned the machete used in the attack to a friend and that he'd cut his finger sharpening one of his knives. Ortega previously testified that he'd bought the machete for about $20 as a birthday gift to himself in January 2009 and that his friend John Camden had borrowed it in February 2009 to clear brush around his home and had never returned it.

"So you gave him your birthday present and never asked for it back?" she asked. She also asked why Ortega hadn't told Camden he could get his own machete for $20, to which Ortega responded that Camden couldn't afford to do so.

As to the cut, Fernandez challenged Ortega as to why he would be sharpening knives he'd previously testified were simply collectors' items not meant to be used as functional weapons. She also questioned Ortega's testimony about how he and Shores had talked about killing Rick Sharpski but only in the context of writing it into the fantasy book they were working on together. She asked if a machete was used in their book, if the victim was killed on his way to work so his family could get money, or if the killer received any reward. Ortega said none of those statements was true and also admitted that his statements about making Rick Sharpski's death "quick and painless" was also not part of the book's plot.

When asked about a note found in his car by police outlining Rick Sharpski's FedEx route and how it could have gotten into his car, Ortega offered no explanation. He also became noticeably agitated when asked by Fernandez about his comments during a 2007 conversation when he allegedly told Mary Sharpksi he could "take care of" her husband. He insisted that he had been joking and that his remarks were "in a sarcastic tone."

Earlier, Ortega's attorney, Derek Bercher, finished his direct examination of Ortega. Ortega testified that when he'd asked former girlfriend April Bivens over the phone to clean things out of his room and behind his dresser, he'd been referring to a drug stash he kept there. He also told the jury that he'd tried to counsel Shores about his relationship with Mary Sharpski and her family, encouraging Shores to talk to Mary about seeking professional help for her husband and children.

Ahlo was also called as a defense witness by Mary Sharpski's attorney, Joel Garson, who questioned Ahlo about statements made by Bree Pendley earlier in the trial. Pendley testified that Sharpski had told her she'd hired a hit man to kill her husband while the two were in a holding cell awaiting arraignment at the West Justice Center in Westminster. Ahlo said that Pendley asked him what he could do for her case and that her lawyer had told him he didn't want her to talk until he talked to the district attorney, but that Pendley's lawyer never contacted him after that.

Closing arguments will begin Monday morning.