Fours years after man killed in South Lake Tahoe over pot deal, one trial begins

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It was a snowy night on January 30, 2016, when Dennis Wright, Jr. brought at least 100 pounds of pot to the Beverly Lodge on Lake Tahoe Boulevard to sell to an interested party. Wright, who was better known as Spike, never made it back to his home in River Pines, Amador County that night. Instead, he was shot and killed at about 7:45 p.m. in the parking lot of the motel.

Soon after the shooting, detectives from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) identified suspects and spent eight months rounding them up from around the country.

Arrest dates and locations, suspects and their age at the time:

2/16/16 - Tristan Batten, 18, was arrested in Vallejo, Calif. (he pleaded guilty on 11/22/16)
2/17/16 - Harvest Davidson, 20, of Antioch, Calif. was arrested in Sacramento, Calif.
2/27/16 – Vanessa Muzio, 18, was arrested in New Mexico and has since pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder.
4/19/16 - Domenic Randolph, 22, was arrested in Harrison County, Texas
4/28/16 - Tevarez Lopez, 33, of Georgetown, Calif. was arrested in the County Jail where he was being held on other charges
5/31/16 - Dion Jermaine Vacarro, 26, was arrested in Oklahoma City.
9/15/16 – Andrew Adams, 25, was arrested in his hometown of Suisun City, Calif.

The trial started for Vacarro on Thursday in Judge Suzanne Kingsbury's El Dorado County courtroom. A jury of nine men and eight women (including alternates) were selected earlier this week.

In his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Casey Mandrell told the jury he would lay out a roadmap of all the parties involved in the procuring of 100 pounds (though the quantity was said to be 200 pounds by one of the witnesses Thursday) of marijuana for an interested buyer for a transaction to be completed in South Lake Tahoe. And how the defendant Dion Jermaine Vacarro came to being charged with murder and robbery.

Mandrell told the jury how Lucas Collins, T. Cole (Tug) Keller and Kendra Ghiorso all came to be in that room at the Beverly Lodge with the victim and buyer 1,468 days ago. He said he would show the jurors how two cars full of five suspects came to South Lake Tahoe for the purpose of robbing Spike.

Defense attorney James Clark skipped his opening statement at this time.

First to testify was former South Lake Tahoe Police Officer Christopher Mahoney who was on duty the night of the murder. He laid out the scene at the Beverly Lodge for the jurors.

The testimony from the other three witnesses (Collins, Keller, and Ghiorso) Thursday was emotional at times as they recalled what led up to, and occurred on, the night Spike was shot and killed. Collins and Keller explained their roles in getting Lopez, Davidson and the deceased together for the buyer's request.
Ghiorso was Spike's girlfriend of 17 years and accompanied him on the trip to South Lake Tahoe.

South Tahoe Now won't be giving much detail of the testimonies at this time as there are still a few weeks more filled with witnesses to speak at Vaccaro's trial and four more suspects still to be tried after this one is completed.

Out of the seven arrested, Batten entered a guilty plea that is sealed at this time, and Muzio plead guilty to being an accessory in 2016. Adams, Lopez, Davidson, Randolph, and Vaccaro have spent much of the last four years in the South Lake Tahoe courtroom together with their five lawyers, all seated in front of Judge Kingsbury side-by-side. They have been jailed in the El Dorado County Jail in both South Lake Tahoe and Placerville since their arrests.

The five trials are now being separated. The remaining four suspects have their next court date scheduled for April 3, 2020.

The jury returns on Tuesday, February 11 for a second full day of witnesses.