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. The three men, who were dressed in orange jail shirts over white T-shirts, appeared in a protective pen with a metal screen dividing them from court officials and the public. Through their attorneys, they agreed to postpone entering a plea to the charges until Aug.
1. During the proceedings, the three looked out at relatives and friends in the Santa Ana courtroom. Darnell blew a kiss to someone in the crowd.
McCrary, the alleged leader of the armed robbery crew who Orange County prosecutors say was at the wheel of the Toyota Camry that dragged McKay 65 feet, has a long criminal history, according to court records. He was convicted in a 2020 case of making criminal threats, a felony. Last year, he pleaded no contest to being a narcoti.
