The Aeson
14-09-2006, 20:04
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Two women pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that they killed two homeless men in hit-and-run crashes so they could collect on the victims' life insurance.
Helen Golay, 75, and Hungarian-born Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, were being held without bail.
At the hearing, Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco denied Golay's request to use makeup, get tweezers to pluck her eyebrows, wear her own clothes and be awakened no earlier than 7 a.m. on court days.
Outside the courthouse, her lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond, explained her request.
"Any lady would want to be well groomed to make an appearance in court," he said. "If she looks haggard and not well groomed and she appears in the press, then a jury pool would be affected by that."
Federal authorities arrested the pair in May.
Each woman faces two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder for financial gain in the deaths of Paul Vados, 73, in 1999 and Kenneth McDavid, 51, in 2005.
Authorities allege the women befriended Vados and McDavid, persuaded them to sign them on to their life insurance policies and then collected about $2.3 million after running them over in secluded alleys.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
Absolute proof that old people can be horrible people as well. Just for those of you who were in doubt.
Link (http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/14/hitrun.grannies.ap/index.html)
Helen Golay, 75, and Hungarian-born Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, were being held without bail.
At the hearing, Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco denied Golay's request to use makeup, get tweezers to pluck her eyebrows, wear her own clothes and be awakened no earlier than 7 a.m. on court days.
Outside the courthouse, her lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond, explained her request.
"Any lady would want to be well groomed to make an appearance in court," he said. "If she looks haggard and not well groomed and she appears in the press, then a jury pool would be affected by that."
Federal authorities arrested the pair in May.
Each woman faces two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder for financial gain in the deaths of Paul Vados, 73, in 1999 and Kenneth McDavid, 51, in 2005.
Authorities allege the women befriended Vados and McDavid, persuaded them to sign them on to their life insurance policies and then collected about $2.3 million after running them over in secluded alleys.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to pursue the death penalty.
Absolute proof that old people can be horrible people as well. Just for those of you who were in doubt.
Link (http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/14/hitrun.grannies.ap/index.html)