Murder Trials Postponed for Skinhead, Associate

Trial dates have been postponed for a skinhead gang member and a female associate charged with murder in the 1998 slaying of a Ventura teenager.

Superior Court Judge Vincent O’Neill Jr. on Friday set an April 22, 2002, trial date for defendant Bridget Callahan, 25, of Ventura.

Co-defendant Michael Bridgeford, 25, of Oxnard, is also expected to be tried on that date, although it hasn’t been formalized. Prosecutors want him and Callahan tried together before separate juries. The logistics have not been worked out.

Co-defendant David Ziesmer, 28, of Oxnard, is tentatively scheduled to stand trial on April 22. But Ziesmer agreed Friday that his trial could begin after Bridgeford and Callahan’s, and as late as July.

Bridgeford and Ziesmer are accused of fatally beating and stabbing 17-year-old Nichole Hendrix in the bathroom of a Ventura motel room on Oct. 16, 1998.

Prosecutors say the pair--both members of a skinhead gang--killed Hendrix because they believed she had reported them to police for selling stolen property. They each face the death penalty if convicted.

Callahan is charged with murder for allegedly assisting Bridgeford and Ziesmer.