A preliminary hearing was held Monday for two of the three defendants charged with murdering popular tantra therapist Steve Carter on a hiking trail and a 23-year-old Canadian tourist, Audrey Carey, in Golden Gate Park.
The hearing was short and was set up to allow Carter's widow, Lokita Carter, to testify early. In addition to losing her husband, Carter is also being treated for cancer. On Monday she told the court the last time she saw her husband alive, defendant Lila Alligood cried and held her hand to her mouth during the hearing.
Last week, 23-year-old defendant Morrison Lampley agreed to plead guilty to the murders in exchange for a reduced sentence. He will not be testifying against 24-year-old Sean Anglod and the 18-year-old Alligood.
Carter's widow looked at the defendants as she testified, as Alligood continued to cry. Alligood's attorney said her client, who has been in jail for seven months, is now sober and terrified.
The murder charges include special circumstance allegations of committing multiple murders, lying in wait and killing during the commission of a robbery. The District Attorney' Office is not seeking the death penalty.
Carter's Volkswagen Jetta was missing at the open space preserve, and video from a surveillance camera showed the three defendants refueling the vehicle at a Point Reyes gas station.
Investigators tracked the car to Portland via the vehicle's GPS system, and the three defendants were arrested in a dining hall there on Oct. 7, 2015.
Local
Bay City News contributed to this report.
