Long Beach, CA: Convicted Long Beach killer's appeal is rejected

By City News Service
Posted: 11/08/2010 06:33:12 PM PST
Updated: 11/08/2010 08:19:18 PM PST

LOS ANGELES - A state appeals court panel Monday upheld the conviction of a man who orchestrated the murder- for-hire of his estranged wife, who was killed as police were outside her Long Beach home to investigate a report of a prowler.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected Manfred Schockner's claims that there were errors in his trial and that there was misconduct by prosecutors.

"The evidence demonstrating appellant's guilt was overwhelming," Acting Presiding Justice Fred Woods wrote on behalf of the panel.

Woods wrote that "appellant had a motive for the murder," noting that Schockner and his estranged wife, Lynn, were "in the middle of contentious legal separation proceedings."

Schockner was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his estranged wife's Nov. 8, 2004, stabbing death at the home she shared in the Bixby Knolls area with the couple's son. The woman was killed on her back patio while police waited outside the front door for her to get a key to the back gate so they could investigate a neighbor's call about a prowler.

Two other defendants also were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life behind bars.

Nicholas Alexander Harvey, who was arrested at the scene after he jumped over a fence and into the path of waiting officers, told police he was offered $5,000 to kill the woman and stage a

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burglary.
Co-defendant Frankie Jaramillo acted as the middleman between Schockner and Harvey.

In the appellate court panel's ruling, Woods noted on behalf of the panel that Schockner "made a number of incriminating statements indicating his involvement in the scheme to Jaramillo" during a meeting at a Long Beach restaurant.

"These oral admissions left little doubt that appellant was involved in Mrs. Schockner's murder," Woods wrote, with Associate Justices Laurie D. Zelon and Frank Y. Jackson concurring.