2nd Trial in Pumpkin Theft Killing Delayed

A family’s bitterness over the slaying of their teenage son erupted outside an Orange County courtroom Friday when a judge agreed to a lengthy delay in the second trial of Peter Solomona, the Buena Park man who killed the boy over a stolen pumpkin.

“Pete, you’re going back to jail,” hissed the dead boy’s father, Jon Ketsdever, as Solomona left the courtroom free on bail Friday. Solomona shrugged off Ketsdever and kept walking.

He was convicted of murdering 17-year-old Brandon Ketsdever in December, but the conviction was overturned.

“We want him to pay, and he will pay,” the boy’s father said. Ketsdever and his wife, Jessie Ketsdever, said they’ve been eagerly awaiting Solomona’s second trial, which was to begin in two weeks.

On Friday however, Solomona fired his defense attorney, Mark Werksman, and hired Newport Beach lawyer Milton Grimes.

Neither Solomona nor Grimes would explain the reason for the switch, but they asked that a judge delay the trial until late September. The judge agreed, sparking many angry comments from the Ketsdevers, who spoke about the case publicly for the first time Friday.

“It’s just a delay,” Jon Ketsdever said. “He’s out of jail, and he wants to stay out as long as he can. If he were still in he’d be asking for this trial to start as soon as possible.”

The Ketsdevers took issue with reports claiming they had forgiven Solomona in the shooting.

“I don’t forgive him, nor will I ever forgive him,” Jessie Ketsdever said. “To be honest, I’d go to trial fifteen hundred times to see this man pay for what he did.”

Solomona, who was accompanied in court by numerous family members, said little after the hearing, though his appearance contrasted sharply with previous visits to court. Released on $250,000 bail, the barrel-chested defendant was clean-shaven and smiling slightly--a far cry from the haggard and graying figure he cut in custody.

The shooting of Brandon Ketsdever on the night of Oct. 18, 1999, made national headlines and sharply divided the loyalties of friends and acquaintances of both families.

Ketsdever and two friends were out pulling pranks that night when they swiped a plastic pumpkin and other gimcracks from Solomona’s Buena Park property.

Minutes after speeding off in Ketsdever’s car, one of the teenagers threw a paper wad at another car. That driver gave chase and eventually stopped the teenagers, by coincidence, in front of Solomona’s corner house.

Solomona had just pulled into his driveway after searching unsuccessfully for the teenagers. Solomona, gripping a loaded .357 magnum revolver, approached the teenagers’ car and demanded his property.

“Where are my pumpkins? I know you took my pumpkins,” Solomona testified he said to the boys.

Solomona then held the gun inches from Ketsdever’s temple and the gun fired.

The boy was still buckled into the driver’s seat.

Solomona claimed that he only wanted to frighten the teenagers from “pulling pranks” and thought the gun was unloaded.

At his trial in December, Solomona broke into tears when a jury announced that he was guilty of second-degree murder, though jurors said they did not believe he fired the gun intentionally.

Solomona’s hopes were lifted in February however, when the first judge in the case, John J. Ryan, concluded that the verdict was fatally flawed and that Solomona deserved a new trial.

The judge said that even though he doubted the shooter’s version of events, the verdict could not stand because jurors were given incomplete instructions.

On Friday, Jessie Ketsdever complained that in addition to trial delays, court proceedings and coverage of the episode have distorted the memory of her son.

Far from a troublesome boy, Ketsdever said, Brandon dreamed of becoming a police officer and often volunteered his time for local football and baseball leagues.

He also was a member of the Kennedy for Christ religious organization at Kennedy High in La Palma.

“He was a ‘yes sir,’ ‘no sir’ type of boy,” the mother said.