Maniscalco Gets 46 Years to Life for 3 Murders : Courts: The 14-year-long case closes with the biker-attorney's sentence, but an appeal is expected. One victim's father tells judge the pain continues.

By RENE LYNCH

June 30, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SANTA ANA — Orange County’s longest-running criminal case came to a close Wednesday as a biker leader turned counterculture lawyer was sentenced to 46 years to life in prison for the execution-style slayings of two bikers and the daughter of a Los Alamitos police officer.

Thomas F. Maniscalco, a Westminster attorney who co-founded the Hessians motorcycle club, had protested his innocence during the 10 years since his arrest.

But Orange County Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary said Wednesday she had little doubt of his guilt.

“I personally would find it very difficult to sentence someone to prison if I thought they were innocent,” the judge said as Maniscalco sat impassively. “I don’t think Mr. Maniscalco’s innocent.”

Maniscalco, 49, was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder for the shooting deaths of fellow Hessian Richard (Rabbit) Rizzone, 36; Rizzone’s bodyguard, Thomas Monahan, 28; and Rizzone’s girlfriend, Rena Miley, 19. Miley also was raped during the Memorial Day 1980 massacre in Rizzone’s Westminster home.

On Friday, Miley’s father, now retired from the Los Alamitos force and living in Riverside County, told the judge his family has never recovered.

“I think one only needs to use their imagination to understand the devastation to the entire family,” Gary Miley said quietly, adding that nine months after the murder he suffered a major heart attack that doctors attributed to stress.

Miley said Memorial Day is an especially painful reminder of the slaying because his daughter also was born on the holiday. When she was a child, her parents told her that the parades, banners and flags for the occasion were celebrating her birth, and it became a family joke as she grew older, he said.

“I think ‘devastation’ covers it all,” he said, describing the heartache that never ends. “It’s still going on today. It’s been 14 years and it still goes on daily.”

The case was troublesome from the start for law enforcement authorities. Police suspected Maniscalco and fellow biker Daniel M. Duffy of Long Beach were involved but could not piece together enough evidence to arrest them until four years later.

Maniscalco and Duffy were arrested in 1984 and charged with the murders. A separate jury convicted Duffy in 1992, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Maniscalco, the son of a retired police sergeant, was convicted on March 15, 1994, exactly 10 years after the date of his arrest.

During a torturous odyssey through the legal system, the case was marked by a mistrial, hundreds of legal motions and maneuverings and numerous bizarre twists, including the suicide of a judge presiding over the case, one of 17 judges who has been involved over the years.

Along the way, Maniscalco also set the record for the longest inmate stay in the Orange County Jail.

Prosecutors said Maniscalco ordered the killings after a dispute over counterfeit money and drug profits Rizzone was accused of skimming from his gang. Defense attorneys, however, claimed Maniscalco was framed.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick King said Wednesday, “I don’t ever want to see this case again. We’re pleased this nightmare in the Orange County criminal justice system is finally over.”

During the course of the case, King repeatedly accused Maniscalco’s attorneys of filing frivolous legal motions that prolonged it.

“The longer a case ages, the better it is for the defense,” King said outside of court, adding that Curt Livesay, Maniscalco’s latest attorney, did not engage in such maneuvers. “Witnesses die, memories fade. The evidence is best when it’s fresh.”

Defense attorneys, however, said they were simply doing all they could to prevent an innocent man from going to prison for life.

Defense attorney Joanne Harrold, Maniscalco’s former law professor who has helped represent him for free because she believes in his innocence, said an appeal is in the works.

“Tom believes, and I concur, that O’Leary didn’t give him a fair trial,” she said. Defense evidence that could have cleared Maniscalco was barred from the trial, she said.

Maniscalco’s other supporters in the courtroom included his mother, sister and Jack Burnes, president of the Hessians bikers in Riverside County. Burnes said authorities have maligned bikers as gang members and said such stereotypes led to Maniscalco’s conviction.

“I’ve been his friend for 30 years, I consider him a brother, and I know he is not guilty,” Burnes said.

Maniscalco kept paying his bar dues for the 10 years he was in jail because he believed in his innocence, Harrold said. Since Maniscalco’s conviction, the State Bar of California has suspended him.

Maniscalco’s first trial lasted 17 months and jury deliberations spanned 26 days--a state record--before jurors deadlocked. During the second trial, jurors deliberated 24 days before convicting him of three counts of second-degree murder.

Standing with his wife, Gary Miley said outside of court that even though the case dragged on for more than a decade he is pleased the system worked.

“We’re just glad this nightmare is finally over,” he said.

But as he was leaving the courthouse, he acknowledged that he is still left to grapple with the memories.

“Well, I guess it will never be over for us.”

By the Numbers: The People vs. Thomas Maniscalco

* Total days Maniscalco has spent in the Central Men’s Jail: 3,759

* Prosecutors involved over the life of the case: 7

* Defense lawyers involved: 6

* Judges assigned to the case: 17

* Judges assigned to the case who are no longer alive: 1

* Days jury in first trial deliberated before setting state record and declaring deadlock: 26

* Days jury in second trial deliberated before reaching verdict: 24