Man Accused Of Arranging 17-Year-Old Wife's 1992 Murder Charged With Capital Murder

DOWNEY (CBSLA.com) — A man accused of hiring another man to kill his wife during a staged robbery in 1992 is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on a murder charge.

Morrad Ghonim, 42, faces a possible death sentence if convicted for the killing of Vicki Ghonim, 17, who was shot during a robbery on July 23, 1992, while sitting in a car with her husband and infant son in La Mirada Creek Park.

Ghonim was arrested last month in Antigua and returned to the United States.

Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Ghonim. The murder charge against him includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and murder for financial gain.

There was a break in the unsolved case in 2009, when DNA linked 42-year-old Leon Martinez to the killing. He was arrested in October 2010 and convicted in March of first-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16.

Morrad Ghonim was charged of arranging the killing in November 2010, prosecutors said.

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