The plea hearing of Otto Emil Koloto, 22, the Gilroy man accused
of killing a South San Francisco man near Palo Alto City Hall in
July in a street robbery out of control, was continued, giving the
defendant another month until his next court date.
The plea hearing of Otto Emil Koloto, 22, the Gilroy man accused of killing a South San Francisco man near Palo Alto City Hall in July in a street robbery out of control, was continued, giving the defendant another month until his next court date.
Koloto was arrested Oct. 2 – months after police believe he shot and killed 27-year-old Philip Lacy – when police found him hiding out in a South San Jose condominium owned by an acquaintance, Palo Alto Police Agent Dan Ryan said. He was arrested without incident.
Koloto was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail where he remains in custody. Koloto faces a murder charge, with a special allegation that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm in the commission of the crime, said Amy Cornell, public information officer for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
At 2 a.m. July 13, Lacy was standing by a car waiting for friends in Palo Alto near the town’s city hall parking garage after a night of bar hopping, Ryan said. He was robbed and shot once in the head, police said. He died several days later at Stanford Hospital.
Another man was arrested in July in connection with the homicide. Donald Robert Lee, who is not from Gilroy, was present on the night of the murder and, like Koloto, faces a murder charge.
The defendants are scheduled to enter pleas 9 a.m. March 20 in Department 88 of the Palo Alto Courthouse.
