Deepa Bharath
SANTA ANA -- The prosecution and defense on Tuesday told similar
stories with contrasting conclusions during their opening statements in
the trial for a Downey man accused of killing a 49-year-old Newport Beach
man in the crowded parking lot of a Costa Mesa fast-food restaurant a
year ago.
Several witnesses for the prosecution Tuesday said they either saw or
heard Ramadan Dokovic, 42, shoot Miroslav Maric several times on the
afternoon of May 18, 2001. Witnesses said they heard Maric's repeated
cries for help and saw Dokovic pump bullets into his body.
The incident, which Costa Mesa police call the most public homicide in
the city's history, had more to it than met the eye, prosecutor Matt
Murphy said.
Murphy and Public Defender Dolores Yost took the court 10 years back
in time to when Dokovic entered New York City as an immigrant from his
native Yugoslavia. That's where he met cousin Mike Dokovic, the attorneys
said.
Mike Dokovic, whose real name is Ilmija Frljuckic, they said, was
involved in a bank fraud that Ramadan Dokovic helped expose to federal
investigators. Ramadan Dokovic received probation and relocated to
California. But Mike Dokovic received a brief prison sentence and was
deported.
Ramadan Dokovic moved to Downey, but things did not go well for him,
Murphy said.
"His wife divorced him," he said. "He had to pay child support. He
tried working in a pizza place, then as a machinist. He had no job. Not
even a car."
Mike Dokovic, on the other hand, returned to the United States and
found his way into Newport Beach, where he headed a fraud ring that ran a
credit card scam, Murphy said.
"He had a lot of shady dealings, made a lot of money and was living
the high life," he said.
Mike Dokovic also possessed stolen Rolex watches that belonged to
Costa Mesa jeweler Glenn Verdolt, Murphy said. Ramadan Dokovic, who
somehow obtained that information, contacted Verdolt and told him he
would get the watches back for a price -- $20,000.
Maric was Mike Dokovic's associate -- "his right-hand man," Yost said.
Dokovic met Maric on May 17, 2001, and again the next day at the parking
lot of the Ralphs supermarket on 17th Street in Costa Mesa. Maric drove
Dokovic around as they argued about the watches and Mike Dokovic. Maric
then pulled into the parking lot of Jack in the Box at the corner of 17th
Street and Tustin Avenue.
Murphy said Dokovic pulled out the gun and shot Maric because he did
not get what he was looking for. But Yost argued that Dokovic was merely
