Defense: Case Against Newport Millionaire's Girlfriend is 'Horse Manure'

The attorney for a woman accused of having her lover kill her wealthy live-in boyfriend in his Newport Beach home to steal his money called the prosecution's case against his client "horse manure'' today and pointed to one piece of evidence that he said should lead to her acquittal.

Holding up one of two keys left behind by Bill McLaughlin's killer, Orange County Deputy Public Defender Mick Hill said it proved 46-year-old Nanette Ann Packard McNeal's innocence because it did not have "Do Not Duplicate'' stamped on it. Such keys, for pedestrian access to a trail in the victim's gated community, were closely guarded by residents. The killer apparently dropped the key near the front door, which had a key stuck in the lock.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy argued the key in the door was a duplicate made by the shooter, 45-year-old Eric Andrew Naposki. Packard McNeal's one-time lover was convicted and is awaiting sentencing for McLaughlin's Dec. 15, 1994, murder. Murphy has also argued that Packard McNeal gave Naposki the hard-to-get key so he could shoot and kill McLaughlin.

"Why doesn't the gate key have `Do Not Duplicate' on it? You know why, because she's not guilty,'' Hill said in his closing argument. "Matt's case fell apart the day he introduced exhibit 95 into evidence.'' Hill argued the key did not belong to Packard McNeal and that Naposki made a copy. "The pinnacle of (the prosecution's) case ... is horse manure,'' Hill said.

Murphy fired back that he never claimed the key had the "Do Not Duplicate'' stamp on it. "I did not say the words `Do not duplicate' once,'' Murphy said, adding that Hill pointed to the wrong key in his defense. "He invented his own Perry Mason moment,'' Murphy said, arguing the pedestrian access key that police recovered at the murder scene was an original, not a copy.

The pedestrian gate keys were closely guarded in the closed community, and much coveted because without one, visitors and residents would have to take a 300-yard walk to the guard house and back to get to the trail, the prosecutor said. Murphy also argued that if Packard McNeal was not in on the murder, then she would have quickly deduced that she had lost the key and the only other person with a motive to kill McLaughlin, who also had access to her keys, would be Naposki. And yet she had Naposki watch her children for her after McLaughlin's murder and continued her relationship with him, Murphy said.

"She has the greatest motive in the world to figure out who the killer is because the killer might be after her,'' Murphy said. "She knows she's not in any danger because she knows exactly who killed Bill McLaughlin and she was in on it since the beginning ... Mr. Hill wants to talk about manure -- you just heard two hours of crap in an Irish accent.''

Hill told jurors that Packard McNeal did not act like a killer after the murder, noting she cashed a $250,000 check out of McLaughlin's account with a forged name on it just days after he died. "She's panicking. She knows her money train is coming to an end,'' Hill said, adding Packard McNeal had no "marketable skills'' to seek a job at that time to support herself. Both attorneys agree that Naposki, who played five NFL games as a linebacker in 1988-89, was the shooter.

One of Naposki's former neighbors, Susan Cogar, testified that Naposki said he killed McLaughlin because he thought the 55-year-old retiree was "raping'' Packard McNeal, Murphy said. Jurors have to decide if Packard McNeal helped Naposki plan the slaying. The attorneys also agree that Packard McNeal had a pattern of hooking men and leeching off them until they could no longer support her spending binges. But, Hill said, "She's a thief, not a killer.''

Murphy argued that Packard McNeal also used Naposki to kill McLaughlin so they could steal his $1.5 million in savings and cash in a $1 million life insurance policy. He also alleged that Packard McNeal stood to gain even more money as she was named trustee over the victim's estate. McLaughlin retired early on the profits he earned from a blood-plasma separator. However, he was having a "cash-flow'' problem at the time of the murder because the profits were put in escrow during a legal battle with a man who claimed to have come up with the concept and was owed more royalties.

McLaughlin prevailed in the lawsuit just two weeks before his death and was due to receive $10 million royalty payments, Hill said. It would have been unrealistic for his client to want McLaughlin dead, because she stood to gain more with him alive, Hill said. Besides, Naposki was broke, the defense attorney added. Naposki and Packard McNeal actively house hunted before McLaughlin's death and told real estate agents that they were due to come into enough money to afford the expensive homes in the spring of the following year.

Packard McNeal pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail in 1996 for stealing about $500,000 from McLaughlin.

-City News Service