Another report on the hearing with some new information...
Bodybuilders fight return to Nevada on slaying chargesBy Megan Tench, Globe Staff | December 28, 2005
STOUGHTON -- Lawyers for two nationally recognized bodybuilders said yesterday that they will fight efforts to send the couple back to Las Vegas to face charges of killing their personal assistant, who was found in the trunk of a burned-out car on a deserted Nevada highway.
Craig Titus, 40, and Kelly Ryan, 33, pleaded not guilty. They were arrested by FBI agents last week at a Stoughton nail salon with $8,300 in cash inside a bottomless aerosol can, Norfolk assistant district attorney Jason Mohan said in Stoughton District Court.
Titus is wanted in Nevada on a murder charge, and Ryan is wanted as an accessory to murder, Mohan said. Both also face state charges of third-degree arson and federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The prosecutor said the couple were in Massachusetts to liquidate assets and flee the country, possibly to Greece.
But the couple's lawyers disputed the allegations.
''They were here to see friends during the holiday," said attorney Robert A. George, who represented Titus.
George said that the couple has no assets in Massachusetts to cash in, and that the two were questioned by Las Vegas police after the body of Melissa James, their live-in assistant, was found. Arguing that his client is not a fugitive from justice, George said the two were released by Las Vegas police and started driving to Massachusetts at least three days before an arrest warrant was issued on Dec. 20.
Attorney John Gibbons, who is representing Ryan, said his client has never been in trouble with the law.
''She had no idea" that there was a warrant, Gibbons said, also noting that Ryan cooperated with Las Vegas police.
Friends of the couple sobbed as the charges were read against them.
Titus and Ryan were once considered royalty in the bodybuilding community, commanding at least $3,000 in fees during stage showcases. For the past five years, they have traveled the world, appearing in bodybuilding shows, posing for magazines, and endorsing nutritional supplements. This year the couple was scheduled to make appearances in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, and Portugal, Titus's website said.
Two weeks ago, the partly burned body of James, 28, was found bound and gagged in the trunk of Ryan's red 2003 Jaguar, according to court documents. Las Vegas police have said that Titus and Ryan told them they had thrown James out of their home after they realized that she had been embezzling from their business, Emperor Enterprises Inc., and that they had nothing to do with her death.
Titus also told police that he had been having an affair with James, according to police reports, which also said Ryan told a friend she had bought seven bottles of lighter fluid with her credit card at a Wal-Mart.
Both Titus and Ryan were ordered held without bail yesterday. A status hearing on authorities' attempt to transfer the pair to Nevada is scheduled for Jan. 12.
Also yesterday, another alleged accomplice, Anthony Gross, was ordered held on $13,000 bail in Las Vegas.
James's mother said that in her last conversation with her daughter, James sounded happy and untroubled. She called for justice in her daughter's death. ''Whoever did this, I want them to pay," Maura James, 51, said by phone from her home in Lambertville, N.J. ''She was a good person, sweet, kind, considerate. This should have never happened to her."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/28/bodybuilders_fight_return_to_nevada_on_slaying_charges/
