Accessory To Murder Charges Dropped For Laguna Niguel Man

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — Charges against a 41-year-old Laguna Niguel Man accused of helping a businessman kill his partner in San Juan Capistrano were dismissed Wednesday, according to the courts.

At the request of the prosecution, the charges against Kenny Roy Kraft was being dropped "in the interest of justice," Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy told Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett.

Murphy said he consulted with the victim's family before making the decision and they were OK with it.

Kraft testified for the prosecution in the case against Ed Younghoon Shin, 41, who was convicted last December of the financially motivated murder of his 32-year-old business partner, Christopher Ryan Smith, in June 2010.

Kraft, according to court records, helped Shin get rid of Smith's clothes as Shin concocted a phony story that his business partner quit their business and went on a "surf safari" around the world, according to the prosecution.

Prosecutors charged Kraft with accessory to murder in 2011. Shin faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, is scheduled to be sentenced May 3.