SANTA CLARA
– A Superior Court judge decided Thursday morning to give the
defense of recently convicted South County hit man Gustavo Covian
another month to search for any holes in the case.
SANTA CLARA – A Superior Court judge decided Thursday morning to give the defense of recently convicted South County hit man Gustavo Covian another month to search for any holes in the case.
At a hearing that was originally scheduled to determine Covian’s sentence – which could send the 39-year-old Hollister man to prison for life without parole – Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings said he would listen to defense attorney Thomas Worthington’s arguments for a retrial on April 24.
That date gives the defense five weeks to collect any evidence or prove any jury misconduct that would garner the retrial Worthington has said he will request.
“I know he wants a retrial, but I can’t imagine on what grounds,” said Peter Waite, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case. “I guess that’s why (Worthington’s) asked for more time, he’s trying to look into all the possibilities.”
On Feb. 11, following a two-week long trial and nearly two days of deliberations, a jury found Covian guilty of killing 49-year-old Young Kim, the former Rancho Hills Drive resident who owned the Gavilan Restaurant at 6120 Monterey Road. Kim was last seen in November of 1998, and the prosecution said Kim’s wife and mother of his two children, Kyung Kim, paid Covian at least $30,000 to kill her husband.
After many lengthy searches by the Gilroy Police Department of the reported Hollister burial site of Young Kim, no body was recovered. Police have also been unable to determine a homicide scene, and forensic evidence tests for hair, skin, clothing fibers and blood on the alleged murder weapon seized from Covian’s Hollister home were all negative.
Kyung Kim, Gustavo’s former wife Maria Covian and Gustavo’s younger brother Ignacio Covian are also charged with murder for their roles in the alleged contract-killing scheme. Their trial is scheduled to begin on April 21.
“I’m continuing to investigate the retrial,” Worthington said last week. “But at this point I’m not going to give any details.”
In order for a judge to agree to a retrial, an attorney must prove either significant new evidence has been discovered in the trial or that one of the jurors did not follow the law during the justice process, among other things, Waite said.
Thursday morning Gustavo Covian walked into the courtroom wearing a red county prison jumpsuit and sporting a mustache and maintained a sullen look on his face.
The jury’s conviction of Gustavo Covian despite a body or any forensic evidence caught the attention of many people in the local justice system, and following the verdict an elated Waite said it was “very uncommon” to get a murder conviction under such circumstances.
Gustavo Covian’s conviction will make it much easier for Waite to prosecute the other three defendants, and Gustavo Covian might even be called on to testify in the upcoming trial, something he did not do in his own trial, Waite said.
Adrian Vizcaino, regarded as the prosecution’s key witness in Gustavo Covian’s trial, was recently paroled from San Benito County Jail for his testimony against Gustavo Covian.
Prior to his release, Vizcaino had 11 years left on his sentence for armed robbery. Waite promised Vizcaino parole if he gave truthful testimony at Gustavo Covian’s hearing; Vizcaino told the jury Gustavo Covian bragged to him about killing Young Kim.
