irishpride
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Bodybuilders Take Plea Deal in Assistant's Murder
Updated: May 30, 2008 09:08 PM CDT
Bodybuilders Take Plea Deal in Assistant's Murder
Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan, the bodybuilders accused of killing their assistant, have taken a plea deal.
The two former professional bodybuilders were scheduled go to trial Monday for the murder of their personal assistant.
Titus has agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder, first degree kidnapping and first degree arson with a sentencing recommendation of 10 to 25 years for the murder charge, 5 to 15 years on the kidnapping charge and 2 to 15 years on the arson charge. The first two sentences will run consecutively.
Ryan has agreed to plead guilty to first degree arson, but she only agreed to the charge of battery with a deadly weapon with bodily harm. This means she faces no criminal liability in Melissa James' death. Her attorney said he will argue for probation during her sentencing.
Once stars in the bodybuilding world, they were accused of using a stun gun, drugging and suffocating the 28-year-old James in December of 2005. James' burned body was found in a burned out Jaguar belonging to Ryan.
Titus and Ryan, who are married, were arrested in Boston after a nationwide manhunt.
Titus won a 1996 bodybuilding championship and competed in Mr. Olympia events. Ryan is a past Fitness America and Fitness International winner and Fitness Olympia runner-up.
James was a former model and dancer who moved to Las Vegas in 2003 to work with Titus.
Titus has told police James died of a drug overdose and that he burned her body to avoid negative publicity.
They will both be sentenced on July 18. It is then that the D.A. hopes these two will come forward with more details about what happened in their house the night James was killed, which is something James' mother has said she wants to know.
Updated: May 30, 2008 09:08 PM CDT
Bodybuilders Take Plea Deal in Assistant's Murder
Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan, the bodybuilders accused of killing their assistant, have taken a plea deal.
The two former professional bodybuilders were scheduled go to trial Monday for the murder of their personal assistant.
Titus has agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder, first degree kidnapping and first degree arson with a sentencing recommendation of 10 to 25 years for the murder charge, 5 to 15 years on the kidnapping charge and 2 to 15 years on the arson charge. The first two sentences will run consecutively.
Ryan has agreed to plead guilty to first degree arson, but she only agreed to the charge of battery with a deadly weapon with bodily harm. This means she faces no criminal liability in Melissa James' death. Her attorney said he will argue for probation during her sentencing.
Once stars in the bodybuilding world, they were accused of using a stun gun, drugging and suffocating the 28-year-old James in December of 2005. James' burned body was found in a burned out Jaguar belonging to Ryan.
Titus and Ryan, who are married, were arrested in Boston after a nationwide manhunt.
Titus won a 1996 bodybuilding championship and competed in Mr. Olympia events. Ryan is a past Fitness America and Fitness International winner and Fitness Olympia runner-up.
James was a former model and dancer who moved to Las Vegas in 2003 to work with Titus.
Titus has told police James died of a drug overdose and that he burned her body to avoid negative publicity.
They will both be sentenced on July 18. It is then that the D.A. hopes these two will come forward with more details about what happened in their house the night James was killed, which is something James' mother has said she wants to know.
