Lake Forest Man's Murder Conviction Overturned on Appeal

LAKE FOREST, CA - A state appeals court Tuesday overturned the conviction of a Lake Forest man serving a life sentence for robbing and killing a popular Laguna Beach manager.

As first reported by The Orange County Register, the three-judge panel ruled that police acted improperly when they continued to interview 19-year-old Matthew Thomas Dragna after he invoked his right to an attorney. During the interview, Dragna admitted to being at the Laguna Beach home of 40-year- old Damon Nicholson when he was bludgeoned to death.

“We will retry this case to get justice for an innocent victim who was brutally murdered,” said Roxi Fyad, a District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman told the Register.

Dragna was convicted in 2013 for first- degree murder, and jurors found true a special circumstance allegation of killing during a robbery, in the Oct. 22, 2009 murder.

The crime shook the Laguna Beach community. Hundreds of people attended Nicholson’s funeral, and several spoke about their loss at Dragna’s sentencing.

"Gone is my dear friend of almost 20 years," Carla Bravo said at the time. "Damon was a very special person whom I loved dearly. We will never again share long talks on the phone, our movie nights with popcorn and bon bons or play Trivial Pursuit after enjoying Thanksgiving dinner together."

Bravo recalled how the photography enthusiast would excitedly tell her that he had photos displayed at the Orange County Fair.

She added, "Losing Damon shattered my heart. I think about him every day and miss him more than words could ever express. I lost my best friend when his life was so abruptly ended. There have been many tears and I have felt so much sadness. It has almost broken me."

Dragna's attorney, Frank Bittar of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, argued the co-defendant is the lone killer.

According to prosecutors, Dragna met Nicholson the day before the killing when a friend took him to the victim's Laguna Beach home and the three men had sex together.

They later found Dragna's DNA on a trash can lid at the victim's apartment. When police searched Dragna's room, they found computer software that Nicholson's friend had given him shortly before his death, prosecutors said..

Dragna was staying at a drug rehab home when police first questioned him. He falsely claimed he had only been to Laguna Beach twice with his sister, but only to the beach and never to anyone's home, according to police.

When police revealed they had found his DNA on a trash can lid in Nicholson's apartment, Dragna acknowledged he had sex with the victim the day before and brought his friend and Co-defendant Jacob Anthony Quintanilla over to Nicholson's home the next day, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy.

Investigators suspect that Dragna and Quintanilla intentionally went to Nicholson's apartment to rob him and left him for dead, Murphy said. Dragna and Quintanilla tried to sell the victim's laptop computer and other belongings after the killing, the prosecutor said.

Dragna decided to rob Nicholson after he met him, Murphy said.

"He enlisted the help of Jacob Quintanilla. They took Jacob's bat and drove to Laguna Beach, and one of them hit Damon on the head hard enough to fracture his skull," Murphy told the jury.

Dragna, a high school dropout, was living with his mother and two sisters in the Timbers Apartments and struggling with substance abuse issues at the time of the murder.

During the trial, Dragna’s attorney told jurors his client brought his friend over to Nicholson’s for sex not to rob him. Dragna, was surprised by the robbery and thought Nicholson was still alive when he left him.

City News Service contributed to this report.