Prosecutors alleged that Rugge was more intimately involved in the killing but could never prove it. In 2006, his parole was denied. Hoyt said he hung out at the hotel, drinking whiskey and watching television. Defense attorneys have portrayed their client as a bumbling misfit from a broken home, an outcast who sought acceptance from a band of drug-dealing friends even as they mocked him.
Rugge was incarcerated in Avenal State Prison for his part in Nicholas Markowitz's murder. One of Hoyt’s attorneys was disbarred for professional misconduct shortly after his conviction. Rugge has never repeated those admissions, and during his trial he testified that he had left the group after they’d arrived at Lizard’s Mouth and had no idea that a murder was in the making. When they asked whether he had bound the victim with duct tape, Hoyt replied: “The only thing I did was kill him.”Often glancing at the jury, Hoyt testified that he did not remember his interview with detectives. Rugge was one of five young men arrested and convicted for the shooting masterminded by Jesse James Hollywood, a small-time San Fernando Valley pot dealer who ordered the kidnapping after Markowitz’s older brother ripped him off in a drug deal. Here’s what you need to know about finding a place to go when you’re on the go.After weeks of stunning setbacks in the pandemic, California is desperate for signs of a turnabout.“You didn’t do this, right, Ryan?” she asked.Late that night, by Hoyt’s account, Rugge borrowed his car and left with Pressley for a couple of hours. But his deals dwindled within a few months, and he fell into debt. Whether Hoyt received competent representation will be the subject of lengthy appeals.Jesse Rugge (pictured), convicted on charges of aggravated kidnapping in connection with the killing of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz 13 years ago, was released from Chino prison after serving 11 years of a life sentence.
According to state prison records, Rugge — now 33 — had been a model prisoner, had taken numerous classes, completed his GED, and participated in AA meetings. But those admissions were ruled inadmissible by Judge William Gordon because the investigator had suggested Rugge could face the death penalty if he didn’t confess. Hollywood was convicted of ordering Markowitz killed and was sentenced to life. Prosecutors contend that the bag held the automatic 9-millimeter gun that he used to shoot Markowitz. Rugge had come up for release several times prior, but he had always been turned down. He said Rugge and Pressley returned about 2:30 a.m.In addition to Hoyt and Hollywood, prosecutors have charged three other young men with kidnapping and killing Markowitz in a botched scheme to collect money owed by the boy’s older half-brother. Over the next seven months, he said, he became “an errand boy” to try to retire the debt--painting fences, cleaning up beer bottles and landscaping Hollywood’s yard.