McGEORGE
Three men charged with the murder of a 68-year-old New Zealand woman dragged to her death during an attempted robbery at Newport Beach’s Fashion Island mall appeared in a Santa Ana courtroom Wednesday and were ordered held without bail.
Prosecutors charged Leroy Ernest Joseph McCrary, 26, of Los Angeles; Malachi Eddward Darnell, 18, also of Los Angeles; and Jaden Cunningham, 18, of Lancaster with special circumstances murder. The trio could be sentenced to death if they are convicted of killing Patricia “Trish” McKay in the commission of a robbery, with a felony enhancement of causing the death of a person over the age of 65. California has had a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty since 2019 and has not executed anyone since 2006.
