Solano County man found guilty of murder and robbery by South Lake Tahoe jury

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A jury of seven men and five women took just 80 minutes on Tuesday to find Dion Jermaine Vacarro guilty of murdering Dennis "Spike" Wright, Jr. in South Lake Tahoe on January 30, 2016.

The trial, which started on February 6, 2020, in Judge Suzanne Kingbury's courtroom, was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Casey Mandrell. He was the third prosecutor on the case which began with court dates for all seven defendants allegedly involved back in 2016. Vacarro's trial was the first.

As promised to the jury in his opening statement, Mandrell took them on a journey that began before Wright brought 104 pounds of marijuana to South Lake Tahoe to sell to a prearranged buyer at the Beverly Lodge on Lake Tahoe Blvd. Mandrell told of how Vaccaro came to town to rob Wright after the sale that was organized by another person who has yet to face a jury.

The sale never happened as the buyer pulled out after viewing the bundled marijuana in a room at the motel.

As Wright was heading to South Lake Tahoe from his home in Amador County in the early evening of January 30, 2016, Vacarro and a group of four other men left the Fairfield/Vallejo area in two cars and headed to South Lake Tahoe to steal the money that would have come out of the sale. But no money changed hands. When Wright and his long-time girlfriend Kendra Ghiorso were getting ready to leave and he was packing up the marijuana in the back of their truck, Vacarro and an accomplice came around a corner of the motel and demanded money, not knowing the sale fell through.

Kendra's purse was stolen after a struggle. She was hit on the head with a pistol and Wright was shot during the commotion.

Vacarro and the other four left the motel in two cars.

One of the defendants that previously plead guilty to a murder charge in exchange for testifying against the others involved shocked the courtroom on February 13. Tristan Batten refused to testify, knowing his deal for testifying would be off the table, and answered all of Mandrell's questions by pleading the fifth (on the grounds he might incriminate himself). Batten would have been facing far fewer years in prison than the 25 years to life he's now facing without the plea.

Since he was ruled a "hostile witness" Batten's previous testimony under oath in 2018 was read to the jury.

It was in that testimony the jury heard how Batten said he was one of the drivers and parked across the parking lot from Wright's room at the Beverly Lodge. He and his passenger sat in the car and watched the planned robbery and subsequent murder unfold.

Batten's car, along with Vacarro's left the scene and they rendezvoused at the Heavenly Valley Lodge on Ski Run Boulevard where another suspect had checked in. It was starting to snow and all five men left town, but not before tossing Kendra's purse on the side of Pioneer Trail.

Text messages, hotel logs, a stop at Ski Run Liquor adjacent to the Beverly Lodge all contributed to detectives from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and investigators from the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office uncovering the identities of the suspects. They covered several states to arrest them and bring them back to the county.

Arrested were (Arrest dates and suspect name, age at the time of arrest)
2/16/16 - Tristan Batten, 18, was arrested in Vallejo, Calif.
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.

Since the time of their arrests all have remained jailed in both the Placerville and South Lake Tahoe jails. Muzio has served her time and is out of jail and on probation. She was Vacarro's girlfriend at the time and left home with him so he could "get a fresh start." She did not know about what happened in South Lake Tahoe until hours after their journey began. They went to Texas, Georgia, and Oklahoma, the latter of which was the last time Muzio saw Vacarro as he left her stranded in a motel there.

During the trial, the jury heard from an ex-girlfriend of Vacarro and his uncle's ex-girlfriend, both of whom Judge Kingsbury deemed to be uncooperative, along with Muzio. Their lack of memory on the witness stand, in turn, brought out their previously sworn testimonies during interviews. Mandrell proved that Vacarro told both of his girlfriends that he was the shooter.

In his closing statement, Mandrell went through all of the reasons why the jury should find Vacarro guilty of murder, robbery, witness interference and special circumstances for the counts.

"Dion Vacarro, he's our robber, he's our shooter," he said.

James Clark, Vacarro's defense lawyer told the jury that his client was entitled to an acquittal because there was reasonable doubt in all of the actions leading to Wright's death. He said witnesses lied on the stand, including the girlfriends, and advised the jury of not jumping to conclusions.

"Evaluate the testimonies," said Clark.

Vacarro never took the stand during his trial.

As Judge Kingsbury read the jury's decisions, count by count, Vacarro's family broke down in the courtroom, as did Wright's parents and Kendra and her family. The Wrights have been at every court date for those accused of killing their son for the past four years.

After the verdict was read, the judge asked Vacarro if he'd like to waive his right to being sentenced in 20 calendar days. He said no, he wanted to be sentenced as soon as possible.

He was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

Vacarro will be sentenced on March 24 and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Batten will be sentenced on March 6. He faces 25 years to life.

There are still four defendants waiting for their trials. Their next court dates are scheduled in April. Not all details of Vacarro's trial have been unveiled here since there are still trials in the works.