Two in a Million

Conspiracy

After years of hearings and motions and courtroom battles that slowed the process of justice to a crawl, the People of the State of California v. Dana Ewell and Joel Patrick Radovcich (they were being tried together) got underway during the winter of 1997.

Prosecutor James Oppliger

Prosecutor James Oppliger, determined to see that the Ewell family received justice, opened what would be a marathon, eight-hour, opening statement, by stating that the latest national figure was that "more than three hundred times a year a parent is killed by a son or daughter."

Staggering number. But also an important part of his case: Oppliger was trying to make the jury feel that in convicting Dana Ewell, they were not going to be doing anything new. Although quite unbelievable, the crime of children killing their parents—matricide and patricide—was not at all that uncommon.

Then, from Oppliger, came the obvious.

"The theory in this case is that it is not a conspiracy to commit murder. This was a planned conspiracy to obtain the inheritance for Dana and Joel Radovcich, and the killings were just another business transaction."

Dana's life had always been about business deals and living that Hollywood lifestyle. Oppliger, quite brazenly, wanted the jury to know that in planning and plotting the cold-blooded murders of his own flesh and blood, his own mother and father and sister, for Dana Ewell, had come down to just one more handshake deal.

One more part of a plan to become rich.

One more rung up the ladder of wealth and status.

One more day in the life of a conceited, money-hungry psychotic, spoiled rich kid who believed life owed him something because of the family he was born into.