Attempted Murder Trial Delayed When Defendant Complains of Chest Pains

Opening statements in the conspiracy and attempted murder trial of a Fountain Valley pair and a Santa Ana man were cut short today in Santa Ana when one of the defendants was taken to a hospital for symptoms related to an ongoing heart condition.

Michael Calvin Shores II, 40, of Fountain Valley complained of chest pains and shakiness during prosecutor Lynda Hernandez's opening statements, and then again as court went to recess after Hernandez had finished. Shores told Judge Richard Toohey that he had misplaced the medication he typically brings to court for chest pain. Toohey eventually decided to postpone the proceedings until Monday morning.

Shores, Mary Katheryn Sharpski, 48, also of Fountain Valley, and Antonio Cinco Ortega, 25, of Santa Ana are charged with plotting to kill Sharpski's husband, Frank, 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 Sharpski's husband with a machete in an alley outside of the victim’s home and leaving him to die on the morning of March 3, 2009, fracturing the victim’s skull, severing a thumb and fingers, partly severing his nose and causing several other machete wounds.

Sharpski and Shores sat motionless as Fernandez painted a vivid picture for the jury of the circumstances leading up to the attack, the attack itself, and the police investgation that followed. Ortega watched Fernandez intently, occasionally moving his eyes to the jury and even into the audience. He appeared visibly unfazed throughout the morning's proceedings, joking with his attorney and chatting with the court reporter during recess.

Fernandez also presented a candid portrait of the victim, describing Rick Sharpski as a heavy drinker who had been accused of verbally and physcially abusing his wife and three children. Shores, who lived in the same apartment complex, befriended the Sharpskis, becoming a father figure to the children, who, Fernandez said,  began to call him "Dad." Sharpski eventually moved into the family's two-bedroom apartment in Fountain Valley after he lost his job.

"The Sharpskis trusted Michael Shores," Fernandez said. "They let him sleep in the same room as their children."

As a relationship eventually began to develop between Shores and Sharpski, Fernandez said, the two talked about moving to a campground in Wyoming owned by Rick Sharpski's brother. Mary Sharpski was given an allowance of about $230 a week by her husband, but became aware of $28,000 he had in his bank account through the couple's youngest daughter, Ashley, who was aware of the affair between Shores and her mother, but did not tell her father.

Fernandez described Ortega as Shores' best friend, and said that they often dressed in matching trenchcoats and practiced martial arts together. Ashley Sharpski told police that she thought of Ortega as a big brother initially, but that she began to overhear conversations between Ortega, Shores and her mother about wishing for Rick Sharpski's death—and about how they could carry it out painlessly and make it appear to have been an accident or a robbery. Ashley Sharpski, now 18, has been given immunity in return for her testimony in the case.

Fernandez also presented photos of the 2 1/2-foot machete allegedly used by Ortega, who at the time of the attack was working as a butcher at a local grocery store, as well as the bloody crime scene, which she described as including "fingers literally strewn about." Rick Sharpski was hit repeatedly over the head, arms, hands and legs, until a local business owner saw the attack and yelled that he was calling the police, prompting Ortega, Fernandez said, to flee the scene. Sharpski lost three of his fingers and part of another in the attack, was blinded in one eye and left in a wheelchair.

Fountain Valley police put Ortega under surveillance after the attack, Fernandez said, and were able to match blood at the scene of the attack to a saliva sample collected when Ortega spit in a parking lot on his way to work.

During the investigation, Ortega's girlfriend, April Bivins, told police Ortega had set his alarm for 4 a.m. on the morning of that attack, and that he returned home wearing all black clothing and gloves, and that he had a severe cut on his finger.  She also told police that Ortega described the attack to her in detail, telling her that he tried to hit Sharpski in the the throat, but that Sharpski fought back and that Ortega "just had to keep hacking." Bivins, who has also been granted immunity, will also testify that she helped Ortega burn the clothes worn during the attack, that Ortega told her he had been offered $5,000 to carry out the attack, and that at least one prior attempt to kill Rick Sharpski had been aborted, Fernandez said.

Moving on to Mary Sharpski, Fernandez told the jury that Sharpski had bragged to other inmates about hiring a hitman to kill her husband after her arrest in 2009. Bree Pendley, Fernandez said, will testify that Sharpski told at least two inmates of her plan to kill her husband, and that Sharpski laughed, telling the inmates that her husband would no longer be able to give their children the middle finger because he no longer had one.

Sharpski's attorney, Joel Garson, said after the proceedings had ended that Sharpski and Shores were nothing more than friends, and that any attempt on her husband's life was carried out without her knowledge.

"They did talk about what life would be like if she were not married," Garson said. "She has said, 'I wish [Rick Sharpski] were dead,' but she never meant it to be taken literally. Whoever did this did it on his own or thought he was doing her a favor."

Ortega's attorney, Derek Bercher, speaking to reporters after the proceedings, maintained his client's innocence.

"I don't dispute that what happend to Frank is a tragedy, but whoever did it isn't in the courtroom," he said. "All of their witnesses have deals. All of their witnesses have lied. I'm not worried about my client. He's a good guy."

Shores' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Lisa Eyanson, declined comment.