Word: markhasev
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Dates: during 1997-1997
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...lastest pretrial hearing, in November, reporters noticed that Michael Markhasev had bulked up a bit--not exactly to Schwarzenegger size but far from the scrawny figure the Ukrainian emigre cut when he was taken into custody last spring. With a trial set to begin Feb. 17 in Los Angeles on a charge of murder in the death of Ennis Cosby--the real-life son of beloved TV-life father Bill Cosby--observers could come to only one conclusion about Markhasev's newfound passion for weight lifting: he's getting ready for life inside...
...that the prosecution's case is a slam dunk: there is no physical evidence tying Markhasev to the murder last January on a freeway off-ramp near Brentwood, Calif., and the only eyewitness failed to identify Markhasev in a police lineup. Most of the case will rest on the easily impeachable testimony of various drug-taking and drug-dealing associates of the defendant's, and a friend who fingered him for a $100,000 bounty offered by the National Enquirer (the friend led cops to a wooded area where Markhasev supposedly hid the gun; police indeed found a pistol...
Such evidentiary weaknesses would be crucial tools in the hands of high-caliber, publicity-savvy defense lawyers. But Markhasev has fired them all. Until May 13, he was represented by Charles Lindner, the Los Angeles lawyer who ghostwrote the portion of Johnnie Cochran's O.J. Simpson trial summation that evoked the Holocaust. Lindner turned out to have bad chemistry with Markhasev and his mother Vickie; minutes before the judge took his seat for the arraignment, Markhasev dramatically turned to Lindner and whispered, "I don't want you." Lindner feels that "no matter what, innocent or not, the kid is going...
Darren Kavinoky, a lawyer who is no longer part of Markhasev's defense but claims to remain close to the suspect's family, says the Ukrainian emigre may find it impossible to enlist--much less afford--a top-notch defense, especially in a town where the victim's father is not only beloved but also powerful. Earlier in the case, Kavinoky tried to beef up Markhasev's defense team, approaching prominent law firms. None were willing to help. For example, says Kavinoky, "the message came through Robert Shapiro's office that no prominent attorney in this town will take this...
Despite pleading his innocence, Markhasev does not expect to be acquitted. In detention he is tough and macho, making statements to the sheriff's deputies that come very close to self-incrimination, according to internal case memos. Prosecutors, in fact, are considering calling some of the deputies to testify. Kavinoky says Markhasev is "very candid, very straightforward." His world view, though, has been practically Dostoevskian ever since he turned 15 and learned a secret about his father that the family won't discuss. The hard-working student with good grades was transformed overnight. Now, says Kavinoky, "he sees that...