Attorney Accused of Soliciting Second Wife's Murder to Keep her From Testifying about First Wife's Murder

An attorney accused of strangling his ex-wife and hurling her body overboard into Italian waters was charged today with soliciting two jail inmates to bribe another former spouse to change her testimony before killing her.

Lonnie Loren Kocontes, 57, of Florida, was indicted two years ago for allegedly murdering his ex-wife, 52-year-old Micki Kanesaki while they were aboard a cruise ship near Italy on May 25, 2006.

Kocontes was charged on Feb. 13, 2013, with Kanesaki’s murder with a special circumstance for financial gain. On May 31, 2103, Orange County Superior Court Judge William Evans ruled that Orange County prosecutors lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the charges.

Prosecutor Susan Price immediately filed new charges to keep Kocontes in custody. Before defense attorneys could get the case thrown out again, a grand jury indicted Kocontes.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett in July of 2013 rejected another motion to have the charges booted.

Now prosecutors are alleging that while in custody in Orange County Jail, Kocontes solicited two inmates to bribe another ex-wife to sign a letter that she was telling the truth to a grand jury in 2006 when she said the defendant was blameless in Kanesaki’s killing and that she was lying when she changed her story before the 2013 grand jury.

Prosecutors allege that Kocontes offered the inmates money if they killed the ex-wife after she signed the letter.

One of the two inmates came forward to authorities on April 21, 2014, prompting an investigation that was concluded in November.

Messages left with Kocontes’ attorneys, James Bustamante and David M. Michael, were not immediately returned. The District Attorney’s Office announced the new charges after business hours.

Kocontes’ attorneys in August 2014 moved to have the 2013 indictment dismissed based on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. They alleged that evidence was withheld from the grand jury.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James Stotler, who is still presiding over the case, rejected that motion, saying it was likely the grand jury still would have a “strong suspicion of guilt” and went ahead with the indictment anyway.

The evidence defense attorneys allege that was withheld included a lack of the victim’s blood aboard the ship. Prosecutors have countered that is irrelevant since they believe she was choked to death before she was thrown overboard.

The jurisdictional issue revolves around the fact that the victim was killed while aboard a cruise ship near Italy and international and federal authorities have declined to prosecute.

The couple met while the victim was a paralegal in the firm that employed Kocontes in the early 1990s. They married in 1995 and divorced in 2001, but still lived together off and on in Mission Viejo through 2006, when Kocontes reported her missing, according to prosecutors.

The couple flew to Spain on May 21, 2006, to board the cruise. They got off the ship to tour Messina, Italy, on May 26, 2006, returning at the end of the day. Kanesaki was last seen alive at 11 that night.

Kocontes returned to California the morning of May 27, 2006. Kanesaki’s body was found off the coast of Paola, Italy, the same day.

Prosecutors allege Kocontes was the beneficiary of several of Kanesaki’s bank accounts and property such as their home, which he sold.

Federal agents investigated Kocontes in 2008 when he tried to move more than $1 million between various bank accounts with his new wife, according to prosecutors. Federal prosecutors eventually sized the money in a civil asset forfeiture case, which is still pending.

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City News Service

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